Secrets After Death
by lezonne
Summary: Hermione didn't want much after her husband's death, just the right to mourn him in peace. The uninvited appearence of another woman however might just stir things up. What secrets did her husband keep in life, and why is this woman trying to take what's rightly her's? Dramione in future. Rated for language, violence, and possible lemons in future.
1. Two Black Cadillacs

**A/n: **Hello readers! Here's a new story I'm trying. I got really inspired by the song "Two Black Cadillac's" by _Carrie Underwood_ and boom! This story came to be. I'm putting a twist on the lyrics though to give this my own interpretation. The lyrics will be the chapter titles. I hope you like it! Please let me know your thoughts in the comments! Thanks to my beta **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

**Prologue**

Two black Cadillac's driving in a slow parade/

Headlights shining bright in the middle of the day/

She could feel her lip trembling slightly despite herself. Even after the devastating revelation that he was gone and that she needed to be strong for her daughter, Hermione had yet to muster enough strength to keep from quivering at the mere thought of his death. It was horrifying to remember, and though no explanations had yet to show up determining the real cause of death and who killed him, she was determined that something would be found. Something had to be.

Her daughters minute hand gripped hers tightly, the black veil masking the better part of her mother's features. She couldn't fathom letting her child see her so weak, not when the sweet child was only three years old. Her son lay quivering on the bed behind her, the poor little thing too young to ever get to really know the man he would've called father.

She didn't want to go down to the procession, and more importantly she didn't want to be hounded by reporters eager for the latest scoop in her time of pain. She wanted the right to cry, and to not feel like that moment of vulnerability would be snap-shot and posted across the front page of the Daily Prophet. She just wanted to mourn her husband's passing like any other wife in the world. But unfortunately, not only had he been well-known across Europe, but he also couldn't have died a simple death. Even considering that caused her eyes to water, and she bat her lashes furiously to keep stray tears back. She couldn't think about the shape his body had been in, nor the scorching memory it might leave in her daughters mind. Even thinking about it caused her to worry. Rose didn't need those kinds of memories of her dad.

But then, the child was only three. She likely wouldn't even remember the set of events, just like Hugo. There might still be a chance for her to let them lead normal lives.

"Why can't he be here?" the girl asked, looking away from the tinted mirror to her mother. The brunette's breath hitched, wishing her little girl would ask some other sort of question. Of course they would ask where he went, but that didn't mean she felt ready to answer.

Hermione took a shaky breath. "I told you sweetie, he's gone far, far away."

"But he has to come back!" She pulled away, the long black dress swishing around her legs. "He said he would never ever go!"

She put a hand to her own head, begging the forming headache to stay away. She didn't rightly think she could handle that. "I know honey, but things changed. He's very happy where he is."

"Why can't he be happy with us?" The little girl asked, pulling away to sit upon her parents bed. "Why do we have to wear so much black? I don't want to go anywhere daddy isn't! He has to come back."

She closed her eyes, wishing for the first time that her young daughter wasn't quite so smart. "I know," she said quietly, bowing her head to hide the running tears, "I don't either."

A quiet knocking on the oak door told her time was drawing to a close, and whipping her head up she watched the ginger head of her best friend peer in, her eyes already rimmed in red. Her eldest son stood as her side, clasping her hand tightly.

"Harry says it's time to go," she said, her voice coming across scratchy. Hermione turned from her children to face the ginger woman, and half a moment later they were in each other's arms, each trembling just as much as the other.

"It's not going to get better, is it?" the brunette asked, gripping her longtime friend tightly. The girls head moved back and forth, and for a moment she wished the woman had lied.

"I don't know."

* * *

The progression was beautiful. Many came to the ceremony, but few and far were invited to the actual burial only a few hours later. Hermione didn't expect so many faces to show at the ceremony, so many people she had always assumed hated her guts.

Some of them she almost feared had come to simply leak to the tabloids. But this was a very well-known funeral, and not just anyone could enter. They had to have a special invitation, else a special, worthy reason to be there. She didn't honestly know why the extent of them came at all, but she didn't argue. They were just faces of people she couldn't- wouldn't- speak with. She gripped her son in one arm, her daughters hand in the other has the progression went on, never once loosening her grip. It might be too much for their young minds to grasp, but not hers. She finally understood what was going on, and she would never forget those few moments when she peered at the lid of the coffin, the body beneath too indistinguishable to be suitable to show an audience. She wouldn't want to terrorize anyone.

Harry and Ginny were compassionate, if not a bit depressed about things. She knew their two sons couldn't quite comprehend what was going on, just like Hugo. Perhaps if she had thought about it, she could've left her children with Molly. But then, this was their father. They deserved the right to be there at his burial, even if they would never remember it.

For some reason, during the moments between when they lowered the coffin and the time she threw dirt into a deep hole, she couldn't muster any tears. She spent days crying, and now her eyes refused to work. Perhaps she just couldn't let herself cry in that moment, not with her children standing so nearby, so very confused. They were just children; they didn't know the specifics.

It was only after the dirt hid the glamorous body box that she fell to her knees on the damp earth, one hand hitting the nearby grass as she released a painful cry. Someone nearby snatched Hugo from her arms, and despite the expensive clothing she wore she left herself fall directly into the earth, her sobs threatening to tear out of her chest. Not a single part of her wanted to accept that he was dead.

"Hermione," a voice said softly, pulling at the sleeve of her black gown, "You have to get up. You can't lie here. It's… it's going to rain."

"Leave me alone Harry," she choked, her voice coming out in a strained tone as she fought to hold back another sob. "Just leave me be!"

"Your children-"

"Take them with you," she croaked. "Take them to Grandma Molly's if you must. Take them anywhere, but don't leave them here."

"Hermione-"

"Just leave me alone," she breathed, dropping her head into the dewy grass. Part of her hoped that Rose was turned away from the scene, mostly so she couldn't see her mother in such a state. She had to be the rock in her children's life now, and she couldn't let them down. "Please, take them elsewhere, please. Just let me stay here."

The hand pulled back, releasing her from Harry's clutches. She didn't care that she hit the mud, ruining her gown as well as dirtying the expensive earrings he bought her only weeks before his departure from life. Drops slid from her eyes, her pain seeping from her body as she felt herself unravel.

He couldn't be gone.

"Mommy," a voice said, drawing her from the ground. She looked up and over her shoulder, wiping away as much grime as she could as she peered over at her daughter. The little girl stood holding Albus' hand, one finger sitting lightly in her mouth as she bit it in uncertainty. The widow instantly felt bad, for she knew she was distressing her daughter. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she said, propping herself on her knees as she continued, brushing the girls tresses behind her ear. "I just want a few minutes alone with your daddy."

"But that's not daddy," she argued, crossing her arms as that uncertain expression came back. "Daddy lives at home, but that man said he lives in the earth." She pointed over her mother's head, back towards the man overseeing the burial. Hermione glanced his way, watching the man shrug feebly.

Turning back, she gave her daughter an uncertain smile. "Daddy lives somewhere else now," she said slowly, watching her daughter's expression. "Don't worry; you'll see him again sometime."

"When?" she asked, her eyes pleading with the older woman, "I want to see him!"

"I-I'm sure you do," she agreed, glancing at Harry for help. "But right now you can't."

"Well why not?"

She pursed her lips; she never really had to explain something like this to a child before. "Because, your father has been asked to go someplace far, far away and help out some special people. He can't come home for some time." She gave her a strained smile, unsure if she was talking about Heaven and God from her muggle lifestyle, or Circe and Merlin. She didn't even want to consider where Ron's soul had gone, just that it was _gone._

Rose looked unconvinced, but a glance at her Aunt and Uncle told her it was time to drop the topic. Everyone looked very sad, and she decided to stop asking questions for a while. Her mother looked hurt, and she didn't want to upset her more. "Okay mummy," she said, pretending she understood so that her mother might give her a real smile again.

Hermione leaned forward, kissing her daughter on the cheek. "That's my girl," she whispered. Clearing her voice, her eyes dropped. "Why don't you go with Albus and James for a while darling? I need a few minutes more here."

"Okay mommy," She agreed again, gripping her cousin's hand tighter. He smiled at her, though they both didn't really comprehend why all the adults seemed so sad. Her Aunt Ginny stood holding Hugo, and even as she surveyed the unfamiliar scene again her redheaded relative started ushering the children away. Uncle Harry didn't follow.

"Why won't daddy come?" Albus asked, glancing at his mom as she continued leading them away. The black car sat at the end of the cemetery, the driver poised by the hood. Since so few of them actually knew how to drive a car, it seemed necessary to have a chauffeur along.

"Daddy's going to help Aunt Hermione," Ginny said, refusing to let any of them look back. If any of them had looked closer, maybe they would've noticed the unshed tears in the ginger's eyes. Being strong just then wasn't something she was accomplishing too well.

And maybe if Ginny had been paying any attention, she would've noticed the figure off in the distance; the silent one, holding a handkerchief to her nose as she quietly cried. The uninvited guest to this event.

But that person wasn't focused on the woman with four children, but instead the funeral she wasn't allowed to attend. A part of her hated the woman kneeling in front of the grave, the bouquet of roses set beside the grave watered by her tears. There the lady kneeled, allowed to grieve however she pleased.

It was so unfair that she could not. Turning, she sniffed once more, the only bystander to have noticed her being the chauffeur. He didn't say a word as she stumbled off the grass, her short heels too difficult to manage in the damp ground. She bristled past the Cadillac, ignoring everyone inside.

Just like Hermione Weasely, a part of her died with Ron. And she would be damned if she lost every last bit of him after his death. His wife might be grieving, but she intended to take a stand.

No one may have known who she was before, but everyone would now.

* * *

**A/n:** Thoughts? This was a spur of the moment story, so I'm not entirely sure if I shall continue with it or not. I really didn't make any plans for this, I just started typing. So let me know what you think so I'm aware whether or not it's worthwhile to pursue! I just try to put a different spin on typical scenarios, hopefully keeping my stories a bit interesting. So please review so I know what I should do with this! Also, chapter length will increase as the story continues. This is acting like a Prologue- actually, it is the prologue.

One is for his wife/ The other for


	2. The Woman Who Loved him at Night

**A/n: **This chapter might seem a bit jumbled, but I do have a plan! It will all slowly start unraveling as the story moves on lovelies! Chapters will be between 3,000-4,000 words. Hope you enjoy! And I have a beta now :D Thanks to **MorbidKitten2**!

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**The Woman Who Loved him at Night**

_Two black Cadillac's meeting for the first time_

"It's insane," she muttered, holding her daughter close as she re-read the headline of the newspaper again. Rose didn't quite understand what it meant, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that people would go into an uproar over this.

She couldn't believe the bitch would do this to her, after all the hype revolving around his death, who in their right mind thought this was a good joke? No one. Her tears hit the paper again, her reality shaken by what she read.

_Child After Death: Lavender Brown's Story of the Real-life Ron_

It made her angry, so, so angry to think that this woman was still bothering her. In school she was an irritating stitch in her side, but now she was an obscure obstacle making it even harder to accept her husband's death. No one knew what happened, so people tried to not bring up the topic with her when she went places. But this, this went beyond unacceptable.

It had only been a month since the small funeral. Her pain was still fresh and alive in her chest, eating at her each morning when she woke up and her baby would cry out for _daddy_. Only daddy was never coming back, but you couldn't explain that to a one-year old.

She crumbled up the paper, chucking it as far across the room as it would go. Hugo slept in the playpen where the newspaper ended up stopping, and all Hermione could do was smash her hands to her face and cry. None of this could be real. Beside her, Rose tried to offer her mother some comfort by rubbing her arm, but it did little good.

"Watch Hugo," she said, standing quickly, "I need some air."

* * *

They didn't live in an apartment anymore, which meant that she could find herself a patch of earth in the backyard to fall upon. It wasn't a completely private place, but it would have to do. She wouldn't dare go out front, not when she knew that the reporters would be even hungrier for a story now. Whoever thought that Saint Ron would be sleeping around with other women?

She scoffed. _Listen to yourself! You're letting Brown get to you. In school she was always willing to say anything to get attention, and considering the amount of men she's slept with that child could be anyone's. Hell, there might not even be a child! Ron was a compassionate man, and he loved you dearly. He wouldn't cheat on you with trash, and you know that. Just because the readers buy into that junk doesn't mean you have to. Lavender's just an attention whore. _

Hermione wiped her eyes with her palms. The backyard had been one of Ron's favorite places to be with the kids; they lived on a hill, and with a fence safely reassuring the parents that their child wouldn't take a horrendous drop off the side of a cliff, this place had become their favorite. When it rained, little rivers and ponds filled up all over the yard, and Rose would go splashing around for ages. Hugo would even pace in some of the water by the porch if it was just Ron home. His children were his pride and joy, and he would do anything for them.

She sniffed, forcing the tears back. The problem with the backyard was that it was his favorite place besides their bedroom. And she had stayed as far away from that place as possible. She couldn't stomach going in there and seeing everything he left behind; an empty cup she hadn't cleaned and a pair of trousers thrown over the single sitting chair in there. His toothbrush that lay haphazardly on the sink and the shoes he had left in the bathroom. The side of his bed that Ron never made because he was no good at it, and the cigar set aside on his bedside table that he had planned to take over to Harry's later that night to smoke, even though Ron hated smoking. Everything was exactly as it was the day he had died.

She didn't want anything changed. She wanted to preserve the way their bedroom was forever. But she knew she couldn't do that, not with her children always asking questions about daddy and why they couldn't go into their parents' bedroom anymore. They were questions she simply couldn't answer. It made her break down into sobs when she thought about it.

Hermione looked around the yard, her face wet now. She didn't want to get up; she wanted to sit beneath that tree forever and just miss her husband.

"Mommy!"

Forever was far too short.

"Yes Rose?" she replied, wiping her eyes quickly as the child bounded over to the part of the yard she sat in.

"A man's at the door," she said pointedly, crossing her arms. "He wants to talk to you."

"You _opened _the door?!" she cried, knowing the child couldn't know who or what was at the door without opening it. "Remember what we discussed Rose; never open the door unless Mommy or.. Mommy is there."

The girl frowned at her mother, but nonetheless pulled on her hand. "Come on! He was really nice."

"Nice doesn't mean you open the door Rose!" She scolded, walking ahead of her daughter. Scenes from graphic horror movies she'd seen as a child popped into her mind, and she just hoped Hugo was alright. She was running by the time they reached the living room.

"You're alright," she said with relief, scooping up her son. He was crying slightly, but from what she could tell, nothing seemed out of place. Content that she didn't have to worry about dying, she turned back to Rose who had trailed behind her. "Don't open the door again unless I'm here!"

"Yes Mommy," Rose said, glancing down. Hermione turned quickly away, walking to the open screen door to see who it was. Her heart stopped as she caught sight of who had come to visit her.

This was no reporter.

"Ah yes, Granger," the prat sat, tapping his finger against a paper that was smashed against the screen door, "Glad you see that you finally made it in here. I've come to talk to you about this." He indicated to the paper, and she scoffed in disgust.

"You've come to bother me about that bollocks!" she cried, causing her son to cry harder. She softened her tone immediately, turning slightly to bounce him back and forth. The blonde watched silently, replacing his paper into a briefcase that he had with him.

When Hugo finally quieted, Hermione beckoned to Rose. "There's a bottle in the fridge. Feed him. If he gets upset again bring him back to me and I'll do it. Sound okay Rose?"

The girl nodded eagerly, taking her brother from her mother. She was used to helping with the baby.

Turning away from the children, Hermione glared at Draco through the screen door. "What do you want?"

"I think I already made that clear. It's a chilly day Granger, why don't you open up?"

She got closer to the door, pointing a finger at him. "How dare you come here? How dare you poke fun at me, after everything! You've been out of my life for years, and now you think it's an appropriate time to come marching back into it just to kick me while I'm down?" She scoffed. "Get off my property; you're not welcome here."

"Although kicking you while you're down does sound like something I would do, that's not my purpose for being here today Granger-"

"Weasely," she snapped, narrowing her eyes. She didn't call him out the first time, but if he dared to come to her home the least he could do was call her by her actual last name!"

"Ah, I see you will not be returning to your maiden name, even after your husband's death." She flinched at his choice of words. "As I said G- Weasely, I'm not here to make fun of you. This article was brought to my attention this morning."

"Oh, how appropriate, considering its today's paper."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Look, I don't even read the paper usually- I can get whatever part of the daily gossip delivered to my desk without having to read through bits of rubbish that don't concern me. I saw this article this morning and found your address-"

"Are you stalking me now?" she accused, drawing her wand. He took a step back on the porch, holding up his hands. She was more hostile than he ever recalled, but then he wasn't quite sure he could blame her. Her husband had been killed maliciously by an unknown person with an unknown cause, and with that in mind he decided she had every reason to be cautious of him. Nothing in her life appeared to be regular anymore.

"I'm doing my job," he said slowly, eyeing her. "I was asked to-"

"You have a job?!" It came out as more surprise than anything, and he arched an eyebrow at her reaction. "I never thought I would see the day! Are your funds running low or something Malfoy?"

He scoffed. "Hardly. I chose to work because otherwise I will wallow in my home just as my father did. And I won't suffer that fate." Reaching into his coat- a trench coat, not a set of robes- he tossed something down on the step. "This is obviously a bad time to speak with you. I was wrongly assuming that you would've had the time by now to consider the article in a logical manner and not be so harebrained by the mere mention of the topic, but I am obviously wrong. I still have a job though G- Weasely. Call me when your nerves are in order."

She watched him turn and leave, her mind spinning in circles. Who did he think he was, showing up like that after she read such an awful bit of information, and he expected her to act normal? She almost laughed; she hadn't been normal since the day Ron died.

She waited until he was out of sight before she opened the door and picked up what he had tossed down, intending to remove the offending piece of paper he threw on the steps. Off in the distance she saw him apparate away, out of her pleasant little neighborhood. Thank Merlin he was gone.

Cries caught her attention, and returning inside she discarded the piece of paper on the table by her front door, relocking it as she went magically. Rose was already on her way into the living room from the kitchen, and they met halfway on the couch, the girl giving her brother back to the tired looking woman.

"Who was that?" Rose asked, ever the curious child. She was so like Hermione at that age it was astounding, though sometimes it was a pain. Like now, when Rose so eagerly wanted to discuss Draco Malfoy's intrusion, when she didn't even really know who the man is.

"No one," she replied, patting Hugo on the back to get him to burp. "Someone who just wanted to do business."

"He had the same paper you do," Rose continued, searching for their copy. Hermione watched her locate it, holding it back up for her mother to see. "He was very into it."

"Yes indeed."

"Who was he Mommy? He can't be no one; he has to have a name."

The older brunette sighed, slowly closing her eyes. "He's someone I knew in school."

"Does Daddy know him?"

Hermione cringed. "Yes."

"Are you friends?"

"No."

"Well why not?"

"Why with all the questions? You're not friends with everyone."

"I don't know everyone!"

Hermione stood then, unable to handle her daughter. The poor child was innocent, but every time she even brought up Ron it caused her heartache. And even worse, this time it was in regards to Malfoy. It couldn't get much worse than that! But she didn't want her daughter discussing this, not when the gears in her mind didn't know which way to turn. She needed to think, and unfortunately this type of thinking didn't involve Rose and Hugo.

"Go to your room Rose," the mother said tiredly, trying to ignore the crestfallen look on her daughters features just then. "I'll take you over to Uncle Harry's and Aunt Ginny's later to play with Albus and the lot, but right now mommy needs some quiet time. I have a lot to think about before I go to work later."

The child immediately looked sad that her mother was pushing her away, but what else could she do? She needed to handle things, and she couldn't' get anything done while arguing with her four year old daughter. She didn't like pushing her child away, but just then she needed to try and get things in order.

"After I'm finished working I'll go there as well and I'll play with you," she said, nudging the girl lightly. Rose looked up, but her dark eyes didn't hold any amusement. In the time since her daddy took a leave of absence, her mother had stopped being so caring. Sure, things weren't exactly ideal when daddy was around, but at least their mother was more caring. Now she just kept giving Rose something to do to get her out of her hair. Rose really missed the other version of her mom.

"Okay," The child agreed, though she didn't sound too thrilled. Sulking back to her room, Hermione felt her heart wane a little bit. She was hurting her children by trying to keep her life together. Sighing, she moved to set Hugo back in the playpen. Could she ever win?

* * *

Harry told her to go down to the Auror section of the Ministry after her shift. He didn't know much about any sort of need to go and see her that day, but he was certain if his section of the Ministry thought that she needed to be spoken to, then he would've been asked, not Malfoy. And on top of that, Hermione didn't even recall knowing that the blonde was an Auror! Something fishy was going on with his story, and she didn't like it one bit.

Something seemed odd about him coming to see her. Given their obvious history, she couldn't fathom _why_ he would even want to take up the job. There had to be other people qualified to come bother her, and especially concerning such a delicate topic, she wished that anyone else on the planet had come knocking at her door that day.

Nonetheless, nothing would change now. He had already come by and butted his way into her personal life by even bringing up these horrible topics, and now she needed to deal with him. Whatever his purpose was for bothering her didn't sit well in her stomach, and she just hoped it would be over soon.

She would not have him visiting again. Rose was a curious little child for how young she was, and Hermione did not need to try and explain to her daughter why this man continued to come around, yet her father wouldn't. Rose was smart, but she wouldn't understand this situation. Hermione hardly understood what was going on herself.

Arriving at the front desk of the department of Auror's, Hermione cleared her throat to get the woman's attention. The blonde looked up startled, and almost instantly her eyes took on that same pitying gleam everyone gave the widowed woman those days.

"Draco Malfoy," Hermione said quickly, ignoring any mindless chatter that might just get her a few well-placed words of pity. She hated when people sent pity her way because she didn't need it; she pitied herself and her children enough as it was. "I need to speak with him."

The woman scrunched up her face, seeming surprised by the question. "Draco Malfoy doesn't work in this department Mrs- Miss Weasely."

"But he came by my home the other day saying his boss demanded that he speak with me after some blasted article was printed in the paper." A few people glanced over at that, having obviously been listening to the woman talk. "He works in the Ministry somewhere!"

"I can assure you that if the Auror's had any questions for you revolving around… around your husband's death than Harry Potter would've been pushed forward to deal with that. Draco Malfoy isn't a part of this department though."

Hermione had thought so since Harry wasn't the one who invaded her doorstep yesterday, but she didn't want to admit that. She wanted to believe he was an Auror doing a bit of investigating, simply because this would be the easiest conclusion. After the last traumatic weeks, she didn't want anything complicated. "Could you at least tell me where he works, what department?"

The girl frowned. "I'm usually not supposed to do that, and I really don't have an archive of all the employee's at the Ministry here, but you're lucky that Draco Malfoy is a popular man here. Everyone knows him, for more reason than one." She looked off dreamily, and Hermione hoped she wouldn't have to hear about those other reasons. "He works for the courts, doing what though I'm not entirely sure. They keep his position a secret down there."

Hermione huffed, wondering how the man got away with something like that. "Fine then, I shall go and seek him out myself. And if anyone has a problem with me disrupting a bloody court session they best understand that if this prick hadn't come to my door to begin with none of this would've happened!" She turned on her heel and stomped off, not caring a bit that she probably just left a very confusing woman in her wake. Oh well, it wasn't like she even knew the girl's name.

Getting down to the courtroom didn't prove to be nearly as hard as she imagined. She had only begun to state her business to the guard at the front when he held up a hand to silence the girls blathering, saying that she could go and find Malfoy in the third room down the left hall on the right. She thought the instructions were a bit rushed and jumbled, but nonetheless found her way just fine. If the gold nameplate "Malfoy" on the door wasn't a sign, then she didn't know what was.

Two sharp wraps on the door got the prick to answer. The door opened and Malfoy stood just inside, his expensive looking tie loosened around his neck and the top buttons of his shirt undone. She could see that he didn't look well rested, and the quill in his hand at least set her mind at ease that he wasn't up to something dirty behind closed doors.

"You showed up earlier than I predicted," he remarked dryly, giving her a once-over. "With the way you reacted last time I didn't expect you to come searching for me for some time- maybe never. I wasn't entirely sure what was going through your head."

"Well, I'm here now," she spat, "And couldn't you have told me where you worked in the Ministry at least? I was up in the bloody Auror department not twenty minutes ago!"

"You thought I was an Auror?" he asked, seeming slightly surprised. "Don't you think Saint Potter would've mentioned that at some point?"

She didn't care much for his dry humor, and crossed her arms with a careless shrug. "Maybe. Now what exactly do you want Malfoy? I haven't got all day; I already spent enough time looking for you."

He smirked, stepping back to let her in. "I have a proposition for you."


	3. And the Preacher Said

**A/n**: Sorry about the late update! I had the ACT and a ton of work to do for an AP class (college level English) on top of registering for my college program. So writing just escaped my mind. Hopefully you will forgive me. Now, I haven't gotten a lot of feedback on the second chapter thus far so please keep up with the reviews! They let me know how I'm doing as far as the context of the story goes. Thanks to my new beta **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

**And the preacher said**

_He was a good man/ And his brother said he was a good friend/_

_But the women in the two black veils didn't bother to cry/_

_Bye, Bye, Bye, Bye_

_Yeah they took turns _

Her eyes narrowed into slits, and the girl's defensive mode rose up. She didn't like the smirk plastered across his face, nor the idea that he wanted to propose something to her. Considering their pasts, she doubted it would be anything good.

"What do you want?" she asked again, unwilling to provide any bit of sensible talk. He wasn't being a bastard, but he was making her uncomfortable. Everything made her uncomfortable these days.

Instead of replying, he inclined his head a bit before stepping away from her, back into his office. She remained outside the open door a few moments as she watched his lanky figure wander back across the room. It wasn't until he was sitting in his desk staring at her that she moved from the comforting security of the hallway to the inside of his office, closing the door slowly behind her. He waited for her to sit without an expression on his face, seemingly studying her demure.

"It wasn't my choice to come bother you at your home," he began. "You're the last person I ever intended on seeing again, especially given our spotted history. But my boss has insisted on the matter since your husband's death broke headlines. Granger, I work down here in the courts as an _investigator,_ not an Auror. Auror's do the fighting, I do the research. It's a far less messy task to take up."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, sitting completely straight in the chair. She wished he would just stop beating around the bush.

"Now there are things I simply cannot disclose to you until I have your agreement on a few things. The fact of the matter is some of the things my department knows concerning your husbands… departure should've been brought up to you quite a while ago. But they weren't."

She leaned forward, her eyes a hair larger. "You've kept secrets from me? Who's been keeping these secrets?! I made it very clear from the moment Ron died that I wanted to know every detail of the case because I had a right to! And now you're telling me some things have gone unsaid?" She stood, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You better tell me Malfoy! I have a right to know."

"Calm down," he muttered, reaching up to rub his temples. "Part of the reason that you weren't immediately alerted of some of the evidence is because we didn't know what it pertained to. Strange things have come in through our mailboxes in the last few months; pieces of a puzzle that no one understands. My boss sent me down to speak with you because things are slowly falling into place."

Hermione moved back, but not to sit in the chair. Instead she took a stance behind it, unwilling to be any closer to the man than she had to be. "Then tell me what you have discovered. I have no answers to what happened to my husband Malfoy, and though emotional attachment might be a foreign subject to you, it's very real to me. Stop stalling, telling me all of this useless banter that I don't care about. If you only called me down here to introduce new evidence on an unsolvable case, then you should've begun with that. I did not come down here to waste my time."

The blonde groaned. "It's not quite that simple Granger." He stood, placing his hands behind his back as he walked around the desk to sit on the front, much closer to her than she preferred. "You very well know that there was an obscene amount of violence administered onto your husband during his last hours. That kind of brutality cannot be taken lightly. Whoever the killer is, he's still out there. We have been fussing with things the last few weeks; different snippets of clues have come through our mailbox, and we have done our best to understand everything given to us. I did not call you down here to waste your time as you like to say, but instead I asked you to come find me when you grew interested enough because I knew you would. It's probably much safer to have this discussion here in my office than in your home anyway."

She didn't respond to him. He was glazing over old wounds, touching on sensitive topics in her mind that he obviously took for granted. She couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would consider this blonde prat the right man to deal with anyone who is grieving- let alone her- but she wasn't about to open her mouth and give him a shaky reply. Empathy had never been the blonde's strong suit, and even now she could tell that he might be a heartless man to correspond with. So far she still didn't really know his reason for bringing her there, much less why he wanted to propose something to her.

Malfoy didn't understand what she was going through, and she doubted he ever would. He didn't need to be the one handling this. If he was an investigator, he should at least be able to understand that most widows don't openly talk about their deceased husbands, let alone the effects of how they died. He was touching on dangerous territory.

"Granger?" She looked away from the wall, realizing she hadn't been paying a wit of attention to what was going on. He was on the other side of the room now, a file held tight in his hands. Surprisingly, one eyebrow rested high on his forehead, a quizzical expression adoring his features. "Is everything alright?"

The girl stealed her expression at that, deciding that it was probably best to not let him know whether or not she was being affected by this talk. Merlin knew what he might do then. "Peachy," she replied through gritted teeth, making her way over to him.

The expression on his face said he didn't buy that answer, but nonetheless Malfoy dropped the topic. She was grateful.

"The file concerning your late husband's death has grown substantially these past weeks," he said, fingering the papers. "It's remarkable, considering that these things usually don't fill themselves. Someone has been sending in hints to the offices the last few weeks, and up until a few days ago everything seemed very unrelated. Some things could be sparsely tracked back to his death, but nothing was concrete. That is until we received an exceptional note."

To this, Hermione grew intrigued. Sure, it hurt like hell to even discuss this topic, but if something major was brought in that connected these unknown notes, than she was more than willing to have a look. Reaching for the file, she was surprised when he stopped her hand, glaring into her eyes.

"Don't," he said sternly, shoving her hand away. Her eyes narrowed to this, and he took a step back.

"Why did you bring that out then if I can't have a look?" she asked, crossing her arms defensively again. He rolled his eyes, glancing away for a moment to pull out a single sheet of parchment, torn on both sides.

"It's usually against the Ministry policy to show anyone the files to begin with, Granger," he remarked, placed the file on a cabinet next to him. "Furthermore, I highly doubt you could tolerate looking through there. I said we received new information; I never said pleasant." Instead of passing her the parchment, he tucked it beneath his arm, looking at her carefully. "I mentioned violence before and you completely blanked on me. I doubt a documented folder containing any evidence we have is going to help you at all emotionally."

"I can handle it," she snapped in return.

He groaned, rubbing his temples. "Look Granger, I know that you think your gutsy and can handle anything, but you're not." His eyes looked up to meet hers. "Unbeknownst to you, I've been down here for two years handing cases, from minor offenses that are solved in under a day to things like this. You think you can handle it because you _want_ the answers you don't have, but forcing yourself to handle things before your ready won't solve anything. It will just make the process harder."

She looked away, refusing to respond. He took that as a sign of agreement. Nudging her arm, he passed her the paper he had taken from the folder, leaving the context faced away from her. Without missing a beat, the brunette flipped it over to observe the contents.

For a moment, all she saw was a blank sheet, and she thought he was pulling something on her. But as she looked up to yell at him, the paper caught the light. Pausing, she looked harder at it. When presented in the right light, the photo of a man could be depicted, unconscious and seemingly unhurt. She felt her breath catch as she read the words above.

_Round One._

Ron was in the photograph, eyes closed and unknowing about what was going on around him. If she looked lower to where the picture ended, she could see his hands bound in front of him. Closing her eyes, she willed the image away from her mind's eye.

The paper was gently taken from her fingers, but she refused to open her eyes and look at the blonde man. He left her be for a few moments, until she felt herself being shoved back. She landed on something soft, and her eyes flew open. He had brought a chair over.

"There's nothing about the photograph," Draco reminded her sternly, watching her hands lock together. "It was the first connection we received to the other images and notes we received because of the phrase. This was the cleanest thing I could imagine showing you."

Hermione flinched at his wording. That didn't give her a lot of confidence. Silently, she watched the photograph be tucked back into the folder, and Malfoy placed it back into a cabinet, locking it with a spell and key. She didn't ask about it.

They remained quiet as he sat on the table at her side, the girls mind turning over. Even after his lengthy speech, she still didn't really understand anything.

"What's your proposition?" she asked when it felt like the silence would never end. Looking up at him, he smirked.

"We have received some truly puzzling pieces of evidence. My boss clearly remembers that you wanted to know about any breaks in the case, and recommended that I check in on you. He believes you might be able to crack some of the things that we receive. I however- along with quite a few people in this department- think it's an irrational idea."

"Why?"

He gave her a strange look. "I just finished telling you that was the cleanest thing I had to show you, and you went into shock over it. Do you think things get better from there? It was murder in cold blood Granger, meaning that every single thing that happened was done with the upmost brutality. The majority of us are not entirely sure whether you- or anyone for that matter- could emotionally handle that. It's straining, and in some cases it's terrifying. You'd have to be prepared to handle that."

Hermione closed her eyes. He was throwing a lot at her n a very short amount of time. When she asked to know what was going on, she told the Auror that she was speaking to that she would help anyway possible. But that was an Auror, not someone down her that worked with the court system on the investigation side. She wasn't sure she wanted to see some of the grotesque pictures he kept mentioning.

But then, this was Malfoy, and he could just be messing with her.

"It's not really a proposition if all I am doing is helping the lot of you figure out what has confused you so far," she reminded, glancing at him again.

"No, it's not exactly." He adjusted his body, looking straight into her eyes. "If you help us figure out what exactly is happening, my boss has ensured that the media will be persuaded to stop the ridiculous publicity Brown is putting out about being pregnant."

She sat a bit straighter. Lavender hadn't even crossed her mind since arriving. Why did he have to bring that up?

"You can't stop what the papers write," she argued, thinking he was just pulling her leg now. "That's a silly proposition."

He inclined an eyebrow. "Is it though? I said my job entirely focuses on investigation. Reporters might do some snooping, but they are trained to produce dramatized news, not know every method alive to persuade people to reveal things as well as how to figure things out. That's where my job would have the advantage."

"I don't really see how."

Malfoy smirked. "Reporters sometimes use blackmail, do they not? You don't honestly think that my line of work is above that method of persuasion, do you? A reporter would rather spread bad news than have it spread about them."

She pursed her lips. She wasn't so sure about his reasoning. "Is that why you arrived at my house going on and on about that damn article the papers printed?"

"More or less. My boss saw a method of persuasion finally that might convince you to delve down into the gory contents of this case. To be honest, I thought the whole idea was a bit batty."

"Yes, batty," she muttered, glancing around his office. The room felt suffocating just then, what with the bloke poking at every sensitive topic he could. "And do you expect an answer now?"

"I told you Granger, I didn't expect one at all after you told me to get the hell out of your home. If you don't have one this instant, I won't insist one. But at some point I do need to know what you're thinking about this. It's a bit batty for you to agree, but I won't argue that it would be a brilliant choice." He turned away, walking briskly back to his desk. "You might save another life."

Her head snapped around to look at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"I said that the photograph connected us to your late husband for obvious reasons. The phrase printed there connected us to other pictures. I didn't say however that every picture was of your husband."

She froze. "You think… you think there are others?"

He shrugged, shuffling papers around on his desk. "It's hard to say. We don't know quite yet. A few people in this department have teamed up with Aurors to help do some searching for others, but it's all unsure. I will not give you a complete answer on that."

She nodded mutely to him, again giving no vocal answer. As the man reorganized his desk, he did not push for one. She wondered what made him hold his tongue at this time, considering that he didn't have much of a problem stepping on her toes just the other day. Something seemed a bit peculiar about him.

Maybe she wouldn't think he was acting so strange if she really understood everything he was telling her. But she wasn't sure she wanted all the details, and kept her lips pressed together. More than anything, she just wanted to go back to her home and hold her children.

Hermione didn't want to think about any of this.

"I'll owl you an answer when I have one," she said quickly, standing to smooth her dress. He nodded without looking up as she made to move the chair back to its home.

"Leave it be G-Weasely," he said, correcting himself for the first time that day. She didn't really care about it though, not after that conversation. "I'll move it back on my own."

"Okay," she agreed, turning quickly to leave. Just before she got out, she caught a snippet of words from him.

"No hurry on that owl now."

She left. She didn't want to acknowledge that situation with a reply.

* * *

Hermione didn't immediately go to retrieve her children from Harry's. Instead, she found herself making a detour to her favorite café, a lonely place now that she didn't have a man to share the charming place with. Instead of feeling enlightened by the place's light atmosphere like usual, she only felt depressed. Nothing seemed to raise her spirits, from the cheery waitress to the collected building.

She didn't want to consider what Malfoy left her to think about. Despite wanting to understand what happened to end her husband's life and why he was so viciously taken from her, she wasn't sure she wanted to do the investigating on the case. She had two young children at home to take care of, and that meant that she couldn't break under her pain and be weak for them. They were confused enough that "daddy" no longer came around, and the last thing she needed to do was scare them by becoming a blithering mess.

But Merlin, she missed him. The table she sat at felt lonesome without her partner, and at home her bed was only half full. Maybe if she could muster the strength to change those sheets that piece of furniture wouldn't seem like such a sad reminder of her changing life.

A part of her hated Malfoy for making that proposal. He was putting her in an odd situation, and though he seemed to hold a sliver of empathy for her position that she didn't know existed, she didn't appreciate that he didn't think she could handle it. So what if she couldn't? That was for her to decide, not him!

She sighed, resting her head against her arm. In the past months it felt like she had aged by years.

The door to the café opened and she glanced up to see who had come in, deciding it was a better option than staring off at nothing. She sat straighter in her chair as she realized who it was.

The girl didn't see her, but Hermione certainly saw the bitch. She waltzed right on in, obviously enjoying the attention she received after that horrid article printed in the paper. She flashed several people a smile before sliding into a seat beside a man she hadn't even noticed. Preoccupied with her own thoughts, she hadn't even considered who else might be in the popular café. It was the middle of the day so most people were at work, but she had the benefit of being off just then.

Neville was someone she didn't exactly keep the best of communication with, but he was a friend nonetheless. She watched in shock as Lavender slid in beside the startled boy, getting closer than was proper as she said something into his ear. And poor Neville looked very uncomfortable as the wandering eyes of customers watched the entire scene.

Hermione could feel her cheeks heating up. What was wrong with the woman? Didn't she realize that she was making herself out to be an utter slut as she did this? If the papers didn't have enough on her they would certainly have something juicy for tomorrow. She mentally reminded herself that if she did take up this ridiculous deal with Malfoy that she should request that he only stopped articles that involved her from being printed.

Lavender could do a fine job of giving herself her own bad publicity.

Watching, she noticed that Neville seemed to be trying to wiggle away from the clingy woman. Truthfully, she didn't understand much of the exchange. From what she understood, Neville was exclusively with Luna. And he was not the type to cheat.

Yet this didn't seem too innocent. She would need to speak to the blonde woman sometime soon and see just what was going on with them.

A few minutes passed before Neville settled down and they fell into a quiet chat. He still looked very uncomfortable- and surprised, if Hermione really tried to read his expression- but nonetheless he didn't shove her away. She wasn't sure that was a good thing.

When Lavender leaned over and started tracing images on Neville's chest where the shirt buttons were barely undone, Hermione decided she was finished watching. She had half a mind to go up there and say something, but even as she simply stood more than a few eyes glanced her way. Those same, uncertain, pitying expressions she got everywhere she went gazed at her again, and she sighed. This was just very uncomfortable.

The attention hogging couple even looked her way. Neville looked horrified that she was there, but Lavender was the one she was surprised by. The woman had an unreadable expression on her face, one that vaguely reminded her of Malfoy during their school years whenever he had a secret. It was a little eerie to compare the two at that point.

She decided it wasn't worth the news article tomorrow. Turning and quickly leaving the café, she found some very un-sneaky reporters standing outside the place. She didn't spend the time to be harassed, and instead turned and hurried down the street. When she was halfway down, she apparatted to her house. She didn't want to deal with anyone.

Arriving home, she fell on her couch. Her children were still at Harry's and she had no fear of being caught crying. The woman wasn't quite sure what made her so sad about the situation, but something inside of her snapped at the sight of Neville and Lavender together, sitting there in a restaurant as though they were a couple, and she wasn't a whore.

It made her a little to weary about the exaggerated rumors about Brown and Ron. Her skin crawled at the mere thought.

Lifting her head from the pillows, she angrily swiped tears away. Here she was, falling into a fit of tears due to almost nothing. Why should this affect her when she had so many other things to focus on? But she couldn't help it; she needed a release.

Inhaling deeply, Malfoy's offer popped into her mind. She still had that to think about, but for some reason it was beginning to seem more and more appealing. And she wasn't so sure that was a good idea.

* * *

**A/n: **Let me know what you think! It helps me figure out how to take things, especially in the beginning of stories when things aren't yet set in stone :)


	4. Laying a Rose Down

**A/n:** So I hope you enjoy this chapter! More plot development, as well as bits of problems and drama. I worked on this chapter for a bit to make sure it worked well with the next one. You can always check me out on facebook if you want! The link is up on my profile. Thanks to my beta **Morbidkitten2**!

* * *

**Laying a Rose Down**

_Threw a handful of dirt into the deep ground_

She was braiding her daughter's hair the following morning when she realized all she had created was a knot. Her mind was elsewhere, focused on a man who wanted her to join a section of the Ministry she rarely heard about, all on the off chance that she might be able to discover her husband's murderer. It was a task that might emotionally scar her, but ever since she encountered the scene of Lavender and Neville yesterday, her mind wouldn't spew clean thoughts. She was conflicted more than ever.

"Mommy that hurts," Rose said, rubbing at her scalp. Hermione hadn't even noticed that she was tugging the girl's hair free of the knot until she complained. Instantly, she felt bad for her moment of neglect.

"I'm sorry," she said sweetly, picking up her wand to use a spell to finish untangling the curls. "I'm just not thinking too well this morning."

Rose glanced at her mother as she stood up, rubbing her sore scalp. "You have been funny lately, ever since that guy came over. What did he want?"

"Just to speak," Hermione replied quickly, putting the brushes away.

"But you were upset," Rose pointed out, crossing her small arms. "Why?"

If anything, her daughter took after the brunette herself. She paid far too much attention for a child so young. It was nice to see that the child would be like her someday, she only wished this high intelligence shown through a bit later. It wasn't helping this difficult situation so far to have a daughter who was so intuitive all the time. Nice, but not helpful recently.

"I'm taking you over to Uncle Harry's in a few hours," she continued, watching the child's face fall. "I have something to handle. But when I return home, I think perhaps we could plan a movie night."

To that, Rose brightened. Ron may have always found the contraption cumbersome, but their daughter adored the muggle creation. Hermione was happy that the girl accepted that side of her heritage so easily. "Really?"

"Really, really," Hermione replied, kissing her daughters head. Cries rose up from the other room, alerting the mother that Hugo was awake. It would be about time to feed the infant, and that would put them at the ideal time to go see Harry. "Go watch something for a bit while I feed Hugo, and then I will take you over to your Uncle's to hang out with James and Albus."

The girl still looked a bit sad that her mother would not remain around the house longer, but this time she did not argue. Hurrying away, the tired woman sighed. Life seemed to be hanging over her head.

* * *

"Good to see you again," Malfoy said when she arrived later. She nodded to him once, her heart feeling heavy as she stepped into the office. It felt almost like a betrayal to her late husband to so willingly enter a place that Malfoy dwelled when the pair were enemies for so long. Ron's blood might just boil over at the prospect if he were still alive.

But he wasn't alive anymore, and that was the big difference in things. She was doing this to solve the mystery behind his death, and avenge him. She would suck up her feelings as best she could and even possibly push Lavender's insulting news post out of her mind if it just meant that she could have peace with the situation, and right the wrong that was administered to her husband.

"You came back faster than I thought you would," he said, sitting behind the desk. She sat rod straight across from him, unwilling to let her guard down. "You can be full of surprises."

"I'm not the person you once knew," she reminded simply. "I am a widow, and I have offspring. I have a job that has disowned me until they think I am in a better mind to return, and I can't wander anywhere without being bothered by someone." She shrugged. "I grew up. You knew me as a youth, not an adult."

The blonde cocked his head at the end of her rant. "Fair enough. It has been many years since we spoke outside these last few days, and I know nothing of you anymore. But keep in mind that it also means that you know nothing of me."

She nodded only once. "I've come back because I've decided to take up your proposal. I know I said I would owl, but this seemed like a better option. I want to get started as quickly as possible, but I don't want to have to wait. I figured this would be the easiest option."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her. "I at least appreciate your eagerness to do something with this, but don't jump into something you can't handle so willingly. You don't always know how you will react to things. And nothing about this case will be gentle on you."

The woman flinched. "I'm aware, and I'm not asking it to be. Death is horrific; nothing about it is beautiful. I'm going to have to accept that if I plan to assist you in discovering my husband's killer."

He smirked. "I'm surprised at you. Many women would not be brave enough to handle a situation like this so boldly. You're gutsy, if not a little foolish."

"I'm just trying to avenge him."

"Avenge and revenge are very similar things Ms. Weasely. Just remember that when you battle your nightmares."

She cringed. "I know."

It grew silent as he flipped a page over, scribbling something in elegant handwriting quickly on the back as she let her thoughts settle in. He didn't say a word as he wrote, and half a moment later he was up and out of his chair, brushing past her spot to walk to the door. He opened it and disappeared for several moments. She took the few blissful pauses of solitude to compose herself.

She was actually going to go through with this. She was going to swallow her fear and try to help her husband in his death. Hermione only hoped she could keep her composure.

"I want to come!" She was started from the silence as the childlike voice interrupted any train of thought she had, piercing through her mind. She adjusted in the chair, attempting to peer out the door.

"I'm working right now," Came the voice of Malfoy, and she noticed a shadow in the hall. "I'm dealing with someone right now Scorpius; I can't just stop and take you places. I got you a maid for a reason; you can't just give her your allowance to convince her to bring you here whenever you please. I can't drop everything I'm doing."

She heard a soft thud on the ground, and assumed that this childlike figure stomped his foot- Scorpius, that was his name. She recalled reading something in the papers some time ago, announcing the birth of Malfoy's child. Perhaps this was the boy.

"You never drop what you're doing! You're always busy." She could hear the pout in his voice and frowned. The child was clearly upset.

There was a sigh. "Come on," came a grumble, and a moment later Malfoy walked back through the door, a child trailing behind him. The boy was the spitting image of her former enemy, and she knew instantly this truly had to be his son.

"Scorpius," Draco said a professional tone back in his voice, "this is Hermione G-Weasely. I'm working with her on a few things. Say hello."

The child gave her a once-over, scowling, before he sneered. "Hello Miss Weasely."

From the child's lack of manners, she assumed he got his charm from his father. Draco however, didn't look too pleased by the behavior.

"Mind yourself," Was all he said, nodding towards a chair on the other wall. "Sit down and be quiet. I'll take you home at lunch. You know better than to come here like this."

The child scowled again and sulked over to her chair. Hermione studied the blonde head as he walked. He was stout, and she assumed he could only be about a year older than her daughter. Though if the child was already manipulating people with money, she feared the monster he would be when he was older.

"Back to business," Draco said, interrupting her musings. "As I was saying Gr-Weasely, be weary of what is to come. My boss requested to speak to you once you accepted, and I will have to take you up to speak to him before I can start introducing you to anything. We shall go speak to him now."

Standing, she wondered if this was where the child wanted to go, but didn't ask. She attempted to smile at the boy as they departed, but he wasn't even looking at her. Giving up for the time being, she followed Draco Malfoy down the halls, silently standing beside him as they took an elevator up a few floors. He said nothing to her on the way, and she wondered if that was a good sign. When they arrived outside a door, he paused in front of her.

Turning, he raised an eyebrow. "Good luck. Try to not get on his bad side."

"What does that mean?" she asked, looking at him. He only shook his head, stepping back from the door.

"Don't ask. I'm sure you will figure it out. Now just knock and when you get called in state your business. He already knows why you're here, so it shouldn't take too long for you to get things over with."

Her eyebrows shot up. "And you're not coming in with me?"

The blonde's jaw clenched noticeably. "I haven't gotten along with him recently. I'll leave this up to you. Do you know the way back to my office?"

"Three floors down, first left, then the fifth door on the right. I'll be fine getting back." Her tone was bitter, and she glared at him. He couldn't just suck it up and introduce her to this unknown boss of his like a professional. His actions seemed a bit childlike.

"Good. In your absence I will be taking my son home. I should be back long before you ever come back down."

"Lovely," she muttered, and watched him go. She wasn't nervous about whoever this man was; she just wasn't excited about meeting him. Sighing, she knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Came the call from inside.

"Hermione Granger," she said clearly, feeling like an idiot as she spoke into a piece of wood, "Draco Malfoy sent me up here."

"Come in." She opened the door, masking her face to keep the look of annoyance off her face. This man spoke in a pinched voice, as though he thought he was better than everyone else. It was only after she shut the door that she glanced his way.

The man sat behind a desk, poised as though he had been expecting her. For a boss he didn't look snooty or even composed. His tie was completely undone around his neck, and the buttons on what had to have been a crisp shirt were done up unevenly. The rest of his attire looked alright, aside from the very obvious mistakes. She didn't even bother trying to consider what he had been doing before she arrived.

Glancing at the desk, something caught her eye as she approached. The nameplate was done in gold, the letters printed scripted neatly. Her eyebrows shot up as she read the name.

_Theodore Nott. _She looked up again, and she caught him watching her. Wordlessly, he beckoned to a seat and she took it without complaint, a bit thrown suddenly by who she was with.

Nott had been a Death Eater like Malfoy during the war. But unlike the blonde downstairs, Theo spent time in Azkaban for murder. He was released only by a plea voiced from a war hero, though the name of who was never disclosed to the public. The man had been a student back at Hogwarts, a sneaky Slytherin who spent far too much time manipulating his peers into bed for his own good. He got in trouble more than a few times for indecent behavior, yet women kept coming to him. She didn't understand. It was just like the Malfoy conundrum; people swooned over him in school despite his treacherous ways. It never added up in her mind.

But this wasn't school, and they did not converse. Tentively taking a seat in front of this man, Draco's _boss_, she waited for him to say something. Instead, he looked her over a bit too closely. Irritated at his apparent thoughts, she cleared her through and brought him back into reality.

He looked up at her, bringing himself back to the present. "Hello Mrs. Weasely- or Granger? I'm not certain what you go by now."

Hermione got that a lot. No one seemed to know what to call her those days. "Weasely," she said promptly, having been using the name every day since she found her husband dead. Just because he was dead did not mean that she would stop carrying his name. That seemed like a disrespect in itself. "Malfoy told me you wanted to speak with me before we began any actual work."

"At least he's following directions for once," Nott said with an eye roll. "Draco can be hard-headed and self-determined at times. All that money goes to his head. He doesn't truly need this job; he simply uses it as a hobby."

"I see," she said simply, unsure whether or not she was supposed to give an actual response to that.

Theo nodded to her. "I trust he did a half-decent job explaining this situation to you?"

"Yes. He was rather… blatant about what taking up your offer would entail."

"It's to my understanding that you have taken a leave of absence from work?" Theo continued, leaning forward on his desk. "I think it would be in your favor to not push yourself under such stressful circumstances. You don't want to have a mental breakdown, especially when you have two young children at home to consider."

Hermione shifted in her chair at that. She didn't quite know why, but having Nott talk about her children was unsettling. She didn't like it one bit. "Yes, I have. My job has decided that I should take the proper time to grieve. And considering the proposition you have offered to me, you know of the drama arising from my husband's murder. The publicity was bad for my division in the Ministry."

"Image before emotion," Theo mused. "Sounds like our world. They don't want you up there because you exist as something that will pull bad publicity to your division. Fortunately for you, you will not be removed from this job division due to publicity. No one is to know that you are working with this case."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really now?"

"Well of course! Do you think it's in anyone's best interest to openly admit that we are working with the widow of Ronald Weasely on the git's case? That would draw far too much attention. No, my last intention in this process is to cause you harm. And I fear you would know quite a bit more pain than you have ever known if the killer of your husband learned that you are pursuing him."

"You know it's a male then?" she asked, looking surprised. Gender had never been a big deal to her, not when she could only think about her husband's blood on someone's hands. Gender seemed obsolete.

"No," Nott replied with a frown. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have worded it like that. We know very little about this killer, that's why we need you. I know it's a lot to ask of you given the circumstances, but it could be crucial to have you here. We don't know who could be next."

Her eyes widened. "Next?"

Nott grimaced. "I see that Draco didn't go that far into the details. Some of the tip-off's we have received indicate that there might be another murder soon to come. That's when things got truly dangerous. If our killer doesn't stop at one, who says that they will stop at two? There could be twenty more people on a list of victims that we don't know about. That's why I enlisted you. Admittedly, you are one of the brightest witches of our time. Your knowledge is untouchable. The fact that you went into a division focusing on magical creatures is disappointing, but not unexpected. Your skills would be of more use up here though, in investigation and research. That's why you're here now, after all."

"I'm aware," she said, though her tone was quieter than before. He could tell from the far off distance in her eyes that she was thinking about his words, the new bits of information that he gave to her. Perhaps Draco was a smart man for skimming over the details, but Theo was not one to downsize the gruesome truth to anyone. If she was going to help them, she had a right to know these sorts of things.

"I shall keep up my end of the bargain as well," Nott continued, folding his hands. "Brown's publicity shall be limited soon, if not cut off entirely. We will be opening a case on her soon as well. The claims she is making and announcing throughout Europe could be the means of a lawsuit for you if she is truly lying. And I believe she is."

To this, she seemed to liven up a bit. He wondered if her mind just needed to hear some good news about getting Lavender fucked over. He wouldn't blame her if that was the case. "That's something good at the very least."

"Indeed," he replied, glancing at the clock. "I however can't dwell in this conversation much longer. I had you come up here today to ensure that you would be mentally sound enough to handle something like this. Draco might think that I'm a bastard at times, but I can have a heart. I'm thinking about your stability and mental capacities in this case, aren't I?"

"You are," she agreed, smoothing down her hair. "I simply think Malfoy doesn't know how to speak to me after all these years. Our time at Hogwarts may have forever severed our ability to see each other in a different light. He's not icy, but he is not friendly either."

"Sounds like Draco," Nott mused. "I remember you from our school years- who couldn't? Top of everything in our class, save potions. That was always Draco. It's a wonder he didn't become a Potion Master or something with his skills. That's a lifestyle I could've predicated him taking, but not this one."

Hermione nodded. This was strange; they were reminiscing about childhood. And they never really knew each other as children. It was odd to dwell on things like that, but if nothing else it was the soul connection they had, even if it was a bit strained. She wondered if it mattered.

"I have a meeting though at noon," Nott said, standing. She glanced at the clock, noting that it was five 'til. "It's just up in the Auror section. I assume Draco told you how to return to his office?"

"Yes."

"Good. It's your choice if you would like to start today. I'll give you a bit of time to stick your feet in and test the waters of things before I expect you to dive in. If you want to be a part of this case you must be committed."

"I'm aware," she said briskly, irritated that he was still lecturing her. The man seemed to pick up on her tone, and smiled softly at her.

"I suppose that's enough for now. I'll keep in touch, Hermione Weasely."

"As will I," she replied, bidding him goodbye. They parted ways outside the door, and she almost felt relieved when he was gone. There was something strange about Theodore Nott, she just couldn't place her finger on what it was.

* * *

**A/n: **Here's chapter 4! I hope you liked it. Please leave a review; they have majorly decreased and I adore getting to hear what all of you have to think! Thoughts on it? He was rather…


	5. He's Not the Only One

**A/n: **Hi again! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter! Thanks again to my beta **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

**He's Not the Only One**

_Who had a secret to hide/_

_Bye, bye, bye/Two black Cadillac's_

_Two black Cadillac's_

"Just give me a moment," he said irritably, brushing past her to search for what she wanted. He could hear her tapping her foot impatiently as she waited, and he took a deep breath. Less than an hour of them agreeing to work together, and he already wanted to kill her. This was going to be a rough experience if that was the case. When he turned back, he bit his lip from saying something extremely inappropriate, something that might just make her lose her mind.

He was going to have to hold his tongue a lot around this woman if he planned to keep her calm enough to work without offending her. Draco wondered how well that was going to work out.

"Here," he said, handing her a semi-thick file. "This is all the background information we have on the case. There are a few suspects, but we need a bit more information about each before we can bring them in to be questioned, or have the Aurors do it. Read all of that, and then come back to me and we can discuss the actual case and what you will really be doing."

She nodded, flipping through the file briefly. "Can I take this home?"

"No, you don't actually have a job in this department, so you can't leave with any of the files. You can do as much research and work as you please while you're in this office- or this department- but otherwise nothing can leave. I doubt I need to tell you that the files are classified, and you can't discuss anything with anyone other than myself and anyone else working on this case."

"I'm not daft," she said, rolling her eyes. "I understand the basics of being an investigator."

"Good, then it will be easier to work with you." Draco stepped around the brunette, moving to sit back down in his desk. "If you don't want to start that today, setting inside the drawer of the side table next to that chair." He indicated where with his finger. "If you do want to start, read that and return it to me. This office might be locked heavily when I'm gone, but that doesn't mean that I want things out of place unless they have to be."

Hermione rolled her eyes before muttering a response. Great, he was a neat-freak. Admitting that she would start today, he nodded his head once before he sat down and returned to his own work.

Opening the file, she scanned the basics. There was the victim, the victim's spouse, and the cause of death- marked, though she knew it wasn't really determined- and other basic things that she already knew. She zipped through the first few pages, unaffected by what she read. Further back in the folder she found a picture that caused her breath to catch, and she found herself gripping the pages of the folder far too tightly.

There he was. Cut into pieces, blood splattered across the floor. She blinked, panicked by the photo. This was how he was found, broken and mistreated in those last hours. She knew the extent of the damage; she saw what he looked like after his death. Those bloody images were the ones that haunted her at night that kept her from dreaming. She clamped her eyes shut, trying unsuccessfully to block the images from her mind's eye.

Something tugged on the folder, and immediately she panicked. Unable to comprehend her own actions, she swatted out at whoever was trying to rip the folder away, connecting with the side of someone's face in the process. The person took a step back at that, and her mind paused at the sound of ripping paper. Surprised, she opened her eyes in alarm.

Draco was glaring down at her, looking exceptionally perturbed by the entire situation. One side of his face was red, and she realized he was the figure she hit. The folder was torn in half, and she wondered just how strong the man was if he tore easily through a thick stack of papers like that.

The moment he registered that she was paying attention again, he yanked her up by her shoulders to stand. "Are you fucking kidding me, Granger? I don't have the time to handle your spasms whenever you panic about this case and the information you'll find. If you can't handle it, then you obviously should not be attempting something like this." He jabbed a finger at her, but she didn't back down at his anger. "Don't fucking hit me! Either go panic out in the hall or don't do this, but lay a hand on me again and I promise, I'll make this experience a bitch for you."

The blonde shoved her back, and she hit the wall, appalled by his sudden mood change. Only a few hours ago he was telling her to not get in too deep, sounding almost kind, and now he was threatening her for being scared of what she would find within the pages of the files. More than ever, she hated him. He didn't understand a thing about her, much less what it was like to lose one's spouse like this.

When she finally focused on him again, she noted that the folder was neatly repaired and sitting on the table. He was wondering back to his desk, seeming content to drop the entire topic. Her blood boiled, though her nerves were still frayed from being reminded of hard times. Perhaps he wasn't the only emotionally unstable one.

Hermione sat back down, but she did not pick the folder up again. Instead she stared down at her shoes, willing herself to be calm and stop reacting like that. She wanted to help, she wanted the publicity bullshit with Lavender to stop, and for that to happen she needed to suck up her emotions and quit panicking. If only it were that easy.

Silence took over the room, and she couldn't be happier to be rid of his voice. The man didn't understand the word empathy to save his life, and he obviously couldn't remain civil for more than an hour at a time. Whatever kind of emotion he tried to convey earlier on was lost now. She didn't trust the man as far as she could throw him, and if he couldn't understand that she was emotionally damaged from this experience than he was horrible at his job, no matter what he told her initially.

"How did you visit with Nott go?" he asked, piercing through the silence. She wanted to give him a snarky reply, shunning him from knowing anything. Just anything to fight back against him, and remind him that she was someone to be reckoned with. She wasn't just a freaked out widow, she could handle herself when need be.

"Fine," she replied lamely, deciding that she didn't care about giving a miffed response. The sooner they could stop talking, the better.

"No problems?" he asked, continuing to work. She peered over at him now, looking at his blonde head bent over the desk. It seemed like a strange question.

"No. Should I have expected some?"

Glancing up, he shrugged. "I wasn't sure if he would be a problem, so I thought I would ask."

"And what kind of problem would he be?"

The blonde adjusted in his chair, so now he was looking straight at her. "I told you, Nott served time in Azkaban. He is not always the most trustworthy character. I wouldn't be surprised if you did tell me he tried something inappropriate."

Her eyes narrowed. "Inappropriate? What would he really try on me, Malfoy?"

"Lots of things," he replied evenly. "There have been reports about… things up there. He's been back to court a few times."

"Then why is he the head of this department?" she asked, throwing her arms up.

Draco shrugged, looking back down at his work. "Your guess is as good as mine."

She frowned at that, pondering his words. She got a good feeling that he wasn't telling her something, and that just maybe, there was something suspicious with Theo, more so than one would think.

* * *

Breakfast the following morning was a strange affair. Rose wouldn't speak to her mother, and Hugo remained a pain throughout the meal as she tried to get him to eat. Her daughter didn't consume all that much either, and spent a good portion of the meal glaring down at her plate, occasionally letting out an exaggerated sigh.

"What is it Rose?" the woman asked at length, unable to fathom what the girl was all upset about. Glancing at her daughter as she lifted the little boy to burp him, she noted that the girl's eyes were watering. "Rose?"

She looked up, the sadness in her eyes eating at her mother's heart. "It's the fifteenth," she said, wringing her hands. Immediately, the woman cringed.

Rose acted like this over the past few months whenever this specific day occurred. Her father showed her what the day looked like on the calendar once, and although his demanding schedule at work would usually have him disappearing early in the mornings, he always told her on the fifteenth of each month he would take her out for breakfast, and that he did. Unfortunately, since he wasn't around anymore, Rose didn't receive that luxury. And Hermione couldn't stomach the idea of taking her children out in the day- even for something as minimal as breakfast- when she knew that reporters were likely to hound the family the moment they were sighted. Her children were quite young, and she refused to put them right in the middle of the media's frenzy surrounding her husband's death, as well as Brown's horrible announcement in the papers.

Once Hugo was satisfied again, she sat him down in his chair, handing him a small bowl of cheerios to play with- and just maybe, he would consume a few. Moving from her place on the opposite side of the table to her daughter's side, she stroked her still tangled hair.

"I'm sorry honey," she said, pulling her girl into her lap. Rose struggled for only a moment before collapsing against her mother. "I know you want daddy to take you out, but he really can't today. Maybe Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny will sometime today."

It was rehearsed, for she always recited the same set of lines to her daughter. She couldn't take her children out, and really they couldn't either until things died down, but Rose often enough forgot about Hermione's words once she was in the company of her cousins. That was the good part of having such a tight-knit family.

The girl shrugged, glancing up at her mother. "We have to go over again, don't we?"

"Of course. You can't stay here alone honey."

"But where do you go? You didn't always used to go away during the day."

"Rose-"

"And daddy's gone too! Why did you both have to go and leave at the same time?!" The young girl pushed her mother away, jumping from her lap. As the child hurried off, Hermione could hear her crying. She cringed, upset with herself that she was distressing her child so much. But she had a purpose for leaving, one which would hopefully make all of their lives better in the near future.

A cry interrupted her thoughts, and she moved to pick up her son as he began crying as well. She would change him and then put him down for a nap, which would give her time to go and speak to her daughter. Before she was offered a proposition by Malfoy, and before she had to start looking into the facts of what happened to her husband. While she was trying to fix the past, she was making the present difficult by not being around every minute to help her children, while they were still so young.

Hermione wasn't adjusted to being a single parent, not yet.

* * *

"I'm giving you the same file to look through," Draco said evenly, handing her a folder. "I want you to actually be able to look through the basics of things and stomach it properly before I start giving you other documents. The further you look into things, the more grotesque it appears. The last thing I want is to be the reason you're admitted to the loony bin Granger."

Hermione nodded, taking the folder from him. She had just arrived, and already he was handing her things. She supposed she preferred this over standing around for many minutes, but it wasn't going to put a pleasant mood on the start of her day. Sitting back down in the chair from before, she read the file.

There was nothing new, and thankfully she got through the extent of the manila folder without either hyperventilation or drifting off into her own thoughts, lost in memories. If Malfoy was pleased to see that she didn't take anything badly, he made no show of it when she returned the folder, only glanced up.

"There's several folders regarding this case," he explained, jumping right into things. Once again, he was jumping around with his emotions. "We have the clues that have been sent to us, as well as far more detailed explanations of the abuse distributed onto your husband before his death." He paused for a moment when she flinched, raising an eyebrow as though to ensure that she still wanted him to speak. "We also have a file solely fixating on other people who might be killed, but it really won't help you at all to look through that one without first reading the other two. So pick Granger, what would you like to read?"

Part of her wished he wasn't even asking this question. It was nice that he gave her the option of picking her poison, but it didn't help with her nerves at all. The first file may have been something that she could stomach and even get through without a mishap, but everything else wouldn't be a quick skim. She might as well accept that. Swallowing down any fears she might have about the files, she spoke through a clear, unaffected voice, "I'd like to see the clue file."

He shrugged at that, getting up to retrieve it and replace the other. It's not like he openly expected her to choose the one that would look into the horrible details of her husband's death.

They returned to silence again, Hermione slowly turning through the file. She decided to skim it first, getting everything collectively placed into her mind before she dared to start looking at the details. Her brief look through the thin folder ended quickly, and she was about to embark on the tiresome task of looking at clues when someone burst through the door, startling her right out of her chair. Since Ron's death, she was more than a hair jumpy.

"Mr. Malfoy," said the figure, a lanky man who possessed little to no muscle, and had far too much hair for his body. He was tall, but his clothes hung loosely from him, as though he couldn't find anything in the world that fit him quite right. "Mr. Malfoy-"

"What do you want, Arnold?" the blonde asked, getting up from his chair. She raised an eyebrow at this, dropping her hold on the wand she had been about to pull, turning her attention to the man beside her. Now, he was staring at her, apparently having been ignoring her presence until just then.

He was younger than her, perhaps by a few years. Whatever the age difference though, she didn't much appreciate his gawking look and wandering eyes. She wondered vaguely if he had any self-control at all, and sadly recalled a time when Ron would've gotten mad at pricks like these. But those times were long gone.

"_Arnold_," Draco said again, coming to stand beside the brunette. The man instantly snapped out of it, his light brown hair moving as he shook his head clear. "Did you have something you need to tell me, or does Nott have you bursting into everyone's office for no apparent reason?"

The man looked sheepish at Draco's words. "The Aurors upstairs just got a hit on a murder, and sent for us to send someone out to investigate. They say it's something like that Weasel-"

"Like Ron Weasley's death?" Draco asked, cutting in before the ignorant man finished his insult. "Do you have a location?"

"Well, of course," the man replied, pulling out a snippet of paper. "Mr. Nott had me run that right down to you!"

"Thanks Arnold," the blonde muttered, sounding less than amused. "I'm on my way right now, and you can tell Nott that."

"Will do! Oh, and he said to bring her along." He jabbed a finger at Hermione, smiling shyly. "Said he wanted her to see."

"Of course. Now be on your way Arnold." He made a shooing gesture with his hand, and the light haired man dashed from his office without another word, the door shutting behind him. Draco was already grabbing things by the time he spoke again.

"You don't need to come, Granger."

She blinked, glancing over at him as she finished shutting the folder. "That guy Arnold just said-"

"Granger," the blonde said tensely, pocketing his wand as he turned, "We're going to investigate something that is quite possibly related to your husband's death for one reason or another. It's going to be another person, another body that was violated and tormented just like his. I know from personal experience these last two days that you don't handle those memories very well, and I really don't need you panicking while we are out and about. You don't need to come if you can't handle it."

The girl huffed. "I'll decide what I can handle, Malfoy."

"If you say so. But don't expect me to comfort you just because you bit off more than you can chew." He grabbed a bag containing something, and brushed past her towards the floo. "Come on, we need to get out of here. Then I'll apparate you to where the body was found."

Turning, she followed him. Hermione didn't exactly like him taking control of everything, but she wasn't going to argue. He had a point that she didn't exactly like her memories of Ron's death too much, and on the off chance that she did end up panicking, she wanted to make sure that everything there was his responsibility. She would go along to speculate and help if she could, but otherwise, the blonde best not be hoping for all that much assistance.

* * *

Immediately, Hermione decided this was one of the most cliché places to kill a person. An abandoned house, really? Every horror movie alive featured one of those!

Her sarcastic musings halted in her head as they actually came about the body. The murder had taken place upstairs- and considering that this was a muggle neighborhood- a spell had been cast to silence any sort of screams. She stopped at the doorway to the room, unsure whether or not she wanted to go in. Draco, who was already inside, turned back and glanced her way.

"I told you not to come if you couldn't stomach it," he snapped, rolling his eyes. "Stay in the hallway if you must, but don't get in the way if people need to pass." He shook his head. "I knew I should've left you back at the office." He walked in, disappearing from her sight.

The brunette's expression hardened. He didn't think she could stomach it, and frankly she didn't blame him, but that didn't excuse his rude behavior. He was treating her like a baby when she was anything but; someone without endurance would not have been able to handle what she was now facing. She might be getting stronger, but like any human, she had emotional scars tied to what she had experienced. Ron died only a few months ago, and unfortunately she wasn't getting any better with pain. That being said, she wasn't sure she wanted to see another dead person so soon.

Swallowing hard, she mustered up her courage and stepped into the room. She didn't dare look at the ground, but already she could see spots of blood on the walls. The woman stepped in beside Draco, pausing there to gulp before she glanced down.

From her position, she couldn't even identify if this was someone she once knew. The neck was twisted too far around, and bone punctured through, having broken from the horribly tight angle. The chest was torn open, the blood still appearing fresh. It wasn't brown and dry yet, but she could tell this body had been sitting around for a bit. The stench of human flesh wasn't overpowering the space yet, and for that she was at least thankful. There were numerous cuts adoring the person's legs, and studying those instead of the gruesome upper body, she noted that the person had to be female by her shapely figure. It was hard to tell immediately though, for the person had been partially scalped. Closing her eyes, she fought off the growing nausea.

At her side, she could feel Malfoy shit and say something, though whatever it was became lost to her. Everything seemed overpowering then, and she wasn't sure she wanted to be in the room any longer. Bracing her back against the wall, she took a deep breath.

"What's she doing here?" the girl heard someone ask. Cracking just one eye open, she saw an Auror speaking to the blonde. "She can't be on the premises!"

"She's here with me investigating," he replied dully, "I was told to bring her along. She has permission to be here, and you will leave her alone."

The Auror relented to that, but not without first giving her a dark look. Hermione groaned, closing her eyes again. Wasn't everyone just peachy today?

The scratching of bones caught her attention, and she grimaced at the sound. Opening an eye again, she peered out to see what was wrong. They were twisting the neck back now, trying to discover who was lying before them. As they brushed the remaining long bits of hair away from the persons face, she screamed, backing away until she hit the floor, the wall disappearing as she fell through the doorway.

Cho Chang. She never even recognized her old friend without her hair, and with her body so torn apart. Everyone in the room was watching her now, most of them looking alarmed. Except Draco- no, he never looked too concerned, did he? The blonde was watching her without an expression, his gaze unblinking as he studied her.

It only took a moment for her wits to come back, and she scrambled up in a moment, her nerves kicking in. There was an unsettling feeling in her stomach, and she could feel something thick threatening to come up her throat. Without waiting, she bolted down the hall, hoping she could hold her stomach until she got outside.

"For fuck's sake, Granger! Come back!" She could hear the blonde man behind her, his footsteps growing louder as he got closer, but that did nothing to slow her pace. She refused to stop just for him.

Outside, she found the nearest plant and lost the contents of her stomach into it. Thankfully, the house was warded so none of the muggles would see, but any upcoming wizards would. Heaving as the last of her breakfast left her body, she slumped beside her chosen bush, breathing heavily and feeling more than a bit terrified.

Behind her, she could hear footsteps, but she wasn't alarmed. She knew exactly who had followed her. Taking a deep breath, she looked up, her body faced away from the house. What she saw made her breath catch.

Lavender Brown stood across the street, watching the entire scene. Hermione felt her blood boil, recognizing the girl immediately.

_What is she doing here?_

* * *

**A/n: **I'll try to get another chapter up in less than a week, but we'll see. Depends on how much time I have to write, as well as how inspired I get from you lovely reviewers. If you have any thoughts let me know! Next chapter is coming in a week at most :)


	6. Two Months Ago

**A/n: **This chapter might seem a bit jumbled, but I do have a plan! It will all slowly start unraveling as the story moves on lovelies! Chapters will be between 3,000-4,000 words. Hope you enjoy! And I have a beta now :D Thanks to **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

**Two Months Ago**

_His wife called the number on his phone/_

_Turns out he'd been lying to them for oh so long_

Hermione froze for a few scarce moments. She had yet to turn and look at the blonde who had followed her, and thus far he had nothing to say. Inwardly, she could feel a battle beginning to ensue, her common sense and her anger boiling together in a battle to decide which emotion would be victorious.

Going against what was her better judgment, she rocketed forward past the bush and stepped out of the barrier, wand held towards the woman as she began speaking.

"What the fuck are you doing here?!" she seethed moving closer to the woman with every step. Lavender looked alarmed, but didn't reach for her own weapon.

"Granger!" Behind her, she could hear Malfoy calling out her name. It irked her that he chose to use her maiden name at a time like this, but it had the desired effect. She paused for a single moment between her seething, and noticed what she was doing.

She had a wand drawn in muggle London. And two muggle children were watching her scream. She blanched.

The duo's eyes widened, and for a moment she wondered what had captivated their attention until she felt a hand rest on her arm, and she realized Draco had followed her out of the barrier. "Don't do anything rash," he said, hissing as he passed on towards the children. They looked at him in awe.

"Don't pay any attention to the mental woman behind me," he said, causing Hermione's irritation to only grow. She zoned out what he said next, knowing that he must intend to erase their minds. She looked back towards Lavender, who still stood rock still, and dropped her wand arm, shoving the wood back under her cloak.

"You're lucky," she seethed. "If we were anywhere else, I'd throw so many curses at you."

The blonde looked startled, letting her eyebrows rise up. "You would really attack me, even if I am caring your late husband's child?"

"_Stop saying that_," she hissed, shaking her head. "We both know it's a lie! You're using it for publicity, and the drama is only heightened now that Ron is… gone."

For a brief second, a flicker of pain danced over Brown's face before she masked the emotion. "I wouldn't lie about this. You might not think very highly of me, but I'm not that fucked up. I wouldn't just make up this conspiracy."

"You have to be," she muttered, certain that she was right. "There's no way that Ron would ever bed you. He's been married to me for years, and we have to adorable children. He didn't need anything on the side."

The woman blinked, seemingly considering how to best respond to that, when Draco came back to Hermione's side. The brunette whipped her head around to look at him, narrowing her eyes. She so hoped that he hadn't done anything wicked to the two children, not when he had a youngster of his own.

"This really isn't the place for a discussion like this," he muttered, glancing between the two just so he could ignore Hermione's livid eyes. "I don't rightly care where the pair of you decides to have it out with each other, but can you try it someplace magical? I don't want to have to obliviate someone. Now Brown, what exactly are you doing here? This is a crime scene, not an attraction. I don't rightly know how you got here, not when this news was only discovered a short time ago."

Lavender cringed. "I'm friends with Cho. I was going to come over today and speak to her, but her floo connection is blocked. I decided to wait a bit to see if it would open up. When it didn't, I apparatted nearby and walked here. I just didn't expect to see _her_ running out." She looked pointedly at Hermione. "Now would you let me see her-"

"I can't," Draco said sternly with a roll of his eyes. "It's not as though you would want to see her in her current condition anyway." The brunette glanced at him then, wondering just how much he would willingly give away.

"What? You can't tell me I can't go in! Why am I even asking- you're not an Auror!" The woman moved to shove past him but Draco gave her a slight shove backwards.

"I'm an investigator," he said pointedly, "And I do have a right to tell you whether the fuck or not its safe for you to go in. Currently, it's not, and you will stay out here. Besides, once Aurors found the body they warded the place. You'd have to enter with me." He scoffed at that. "And since Granger is my partner, I won't be doing that."

The blonde girl's lip trembled at his words, and Hermione thought it looked a little showy for something she didn't even understand. "Body?"

Draco sighed, seemingly hating himself. "Fuck me," he muttered. "Yes, body. That's why this place is warded and that's why you can't go in; Chang is dead."

For a moment, Hermione almost felt sorry for the girl in front of her. She looked shocked by the news, and a bit appaled. Would it kill Malfoy to be a bit more sincere with people's feelings? Sure, he was decent with her sometimes in regards to her husband and- though she wasn't exactly fond of Lavender- the girl deserved to be told in a calmer, nicer way. Brown looked like she was about to crumble.

"You're lying," she spat, looking between the pair. "You're lying!"

"Here we go again with the screams," Draco muttered. "Look Brown, this isn't the time or place. Go home or something- go see a friend. No one can release anything about the case at this time. I can't-"

She jumped forward, making to hit the blonde man in the chest with her fists. He caught her arms though, saving his body from what he supposed wouldn't be the worst violence he had ever faced. "I'm not going anywhere!"

"Fine, stand outside the barrier," he replied, shrugging. "You can't come through though, and it's not like anyone is going to come out this way. Read the Prophet tomorrow morning or something."

"Are you insane Malfoy?" she screeched, pulling from his grip. "That's the worst way to find things out!"

"Oh good," he countered, rolling his eyes again. "Then maybe you'll understand how Granger feels about your baby article. Maybe the two of you could be even." He turned then, spinning on his heel to walk back through the barrier, pausing halfway to extend a hand towards Hermione. "Come on Granger, let's go back inside."

Instead of immediately following, the brunette looked back at Lavender. The woman looked distraught, torn, but yet her hands rested against her slim body, cradling something she was sure wasn't there.

It really went against her nature to turn on someone who obviously needed a bit of help. She was hurt, disbelieving, and completely unprepared for what she was hearing. Despite her best effort, Hermione couldn't keep the image of her ands cradled over her stomach out of her mind, and the shameful article depicting her pregnancy.

Lavender left her to find out things the hard way.

Blindly, she reached back and found the blonde's hand. He yanked her through the barrier, separating the brunette from her former Gryffindor classmate. And from her place, Lavender's expression hardened. For some reason, that made Hermione feel better about passing through the barrier. Now Brown would know how she felt.

But even so, she felt a sickening feeling in her stomach as she walked back towards the house. Lavender let her find out about a supposed lie through a paper, and she was going to let the woman figure out her friend's death. It was an uneven playing field, and she tried to block that from her mind.

She shouldn't pity that woman of all people, right?

* * *

Malfoy didn't say anything about the meeting the rest of the day. He let Hermione sit in her chair and think, not bothering to chuck something at her to read. The file she attempted to pursue before Draco was called out sat on the floor beside her, currently disregarded.

If he wanted to discuss things with her, the blonde didn't let on. As they sat there in silence, Hermione knew the age old rumor had to be true; Malfoy really did hate human interaction. As if that was a surprise.

He didn't offer her a thing. No thoughtful or at least snarky words, no water, no chance to go home. Nothing. He sat emotionless in his desk, flipping through papers as he continued to search for something that he obviously wasn't locating. She didn't attempt to draw him into conversation, not when her mind was in turmoil.

The body of Cho Chang was going to be cut apart, inspected, and documented. It wasn't anything particularly pleasant to think about, much less appealing. She felt sick at the idea of that happening to a person, despite knowing that it happened often. After Ron though, she got a little weary of bodies.

Malfoy didn't let on as to whether or not he thought that Cho's death and Ron's were related. He only implied that that's why they called her in. She was the smart one, the unknown magician that would come in, wave her wand, and put every complicated thing into place. Only it wasn't that easy, not when it emotionally affected her.

She was beginning to consider the possibility of getting a hold of Lavender to stop this ridiculous nonsense of the woman being pregnant once and for all when the door to the office burst open, hitting the wall behind it rather hard. The brunette's eyebrows shot up as a woman strode through the door.

This woman was dressed lavishly, in robes that probably cost as much as her house by the looks of it. She was decorated in fine jewelry, and her lips were adored in a ruby color that seemed to drain her complexion. In one hand she held an expensive handbag, and in the other she pulled a familiar child along beside her.

"That's it!" she shrieked, her octave so high that Hermione felt compelled to shut the door as to protect the rest of the department from the unpleasant noise. "I am through trying to refine him! Every day I say something, and he retorts back with some sort of snarky reply, a quick tongue, and then does whatever he wants! Who does that sound like to you, Draco!?"

The blonde man was already around his desk by then, arms crossed in front of him as he studied the woman screaming at him. Scorpius pulled from her grip, rubbing his arm and glowering up at her. He glanced away, spotted Hermione, scowled and resorted to glaring at the floor.

"Astoria," the blonde said tightly, and she recalled that name from school, "Out. Now. This is not the place to have these types of discussions."

The woman threw her hands up. "There never is with you! He refuses to obey a single nanny, much less myself, and I'm his mother! I only see him two days a week, and I still can't control him! He doesn't like me Draco, just accept that! Now take your son home, because he can stay with you the rest of the week! I'm finished!"

Turning on an expensive pair of heels, the woman stomped out, leaving the strange trio in her wake. By the time the door slammed, Draco was rubbing his temples.

"Scorpius," he snapped, though his tone wasn't loud and shrill like Astoria's, "How many times have I told you to not upset your mother? That woman is barely sane to begin with!"

The child pouted. "She never lets me do anything fun!"

"That's beside the point," Draco retorted. "Look, just because my guidelines are different than your mothers doesn't mean that you only ever follow mine. She has always been a bit joyless, okay? Getting into mischief and giving your mother a headache is not why you go over there two days a week."

Scorpius glanced around, apparently looking for something to focus on as he softly kicked the ground. "It's not like she's ever around. She's always too busy with other people."

"That's how your mother is," Draco said, looking around as well. His eyes fell on Hermione, as though just remembering that she was present, and her eyebrows shot up. The woman highly doubted he would be having this discussion if he actually remembered she was there.

"But dad-"

"No buts," he said dismissevly, glancing again at Hermione. "Now come on, I'll take you to your grandmothers until I'm off work. Then we will have a serious talk about things." The child sulked, crossing his arms in a pout.

Draco ignored his son by this time, moving to step in front of Hermione. "I need to deal with my son right now," he said, looking into her eyes. She suspected that he was searching for the parental side of her, the one that would understand why he needed to leave. "Feel free to remain until I get back if you want, though I don't see why you would, since you haven't done anything thus far."

"I'll stay," she said quickly, the gears in her mind turning. Maybe without the blonde in the room, she would open the bloody file. He wouldn't be around after all to see he reaction.

He looked a bit unsure about her response. "I shouldn't be gone long," he said airily, waving a hand. "I just have to explain the situation to my mother-"

"Your mother?" She sounded surprised by that.

"Yes. Who else do you think his grandmother would be?"

The brunette paused, looking unsure. She knew that Lucius was rotting away in Azkaban prison, and that Malfoy escaped that fate. Narcissa was simply someone she never really considered, even after all these years. She never speculated what happened to the woman until that very moment.

Then again, she never realized that Malfoy had married the snotty, uptight, Slytherin bitch Astoria Greengrass either. Her Malfoy knowledge really never seemed important to have until the last few days.

"Never mind ," he grumbled when she didn't respond. "Just don't touch anything while I'm away," he continued, turning to grab his son in his arms. "Like I said, I won't be long."

The woman rolled her eyes as he departed, knowing that the blonde kept talking like that just to spite her. He left quickly with his son after that, leaving her in the oddly cozy space. It's amazing how comforting something can feel when you remove the cold blooded man from the situation. Without Malfoy, she almost liked the office. It was ironic.

A few minutes passed and Hermione decided to skim the folder she had been avoiding. The blonde wasn't back yet, and she supposed things would take a while. The girl tried to read the first bit of information, but quickly shut the file. She was distracted, and her mind wasn't absorbing information like she needed it to.

Her mind was still on Lavender. How should she handle her? Just because this branch of the Ministry promised her that they would work to keep any articles on herself as well as the annoying blonde out of the papers didn't mean it was a hundred percent guaranteed. Something could always slip through, and what with Lavender whoring herself to anyone with legs one moment and then attempting to sob about a friend's death the next, Hermione wouldn't be surprised if another article ran about her. She would just be disappointed.

Lavender was certainly a speculation. Why would the woman so conveniently be outside Chang's unless she was involved? Everything just seemed to picture perfect about her story to be the truth, and Hermione wasn't buying it. Standing, she paced the length of the room. Here she was, supposed to be thinking up theories for why her husband was killed, and instead she was questioning the sincerity of another woman's words. Her mind needed to get back on track.

Pausing in front of Malfoy's desk, she sighed and rubbed her temples. Things were quite complicated. Looking up, she weighed her options for something to do when a thin blue piece of paper caught her eye. Well, the blonde had been busy looking for something on his desk, right?

_What are you doing Hermione? You can't go prying through his desk! If you think he's a pain now, he'll be so much worse when he discovers that you searched his things. Can you imagine?_

No, she couldn't imagine, and she really didn't want to. Yet curiosity pulled at her mind, and she wanted nothing more than to discover something pleasant. Maybe it was a letter from a secret admirer or something-

_Great, I'm back to thinking like I'm twelve. Come on Hermione! What's wrong with you?_

Taking a breath to hopefully relax her body, she reached out and snatched the document up. Her eyes scrunched together at the words.

It was a letter, from _Ron_. On blue paper?

* * *

**A/n: **Sorry for the cliffe! I really want to work on the next part to make sure it's good because I'm stuck right now. Thoughts?


	7. They Decided it Then

**A/n**: It's been a while, I know loves. I had to finish off the end of my junior year, and at least now I am prepared to start my college program in the fall! On top of that, my dance classes are getting intense and I misplaced the flash drive with this story on it for a bit. Sorry! Hopefully you will forgive me darlings. Thanks to my new beta **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

**They Decided it Then**

_He would never get away with doing this to them/_

_Two black Cadillac's waiting for the right time/_

_Right time_

At first she didn't reach forward to grasp the paper at all, for she was unsure how she wanted to proceed. Why would Ron have owled Draco Malfoy of all people, when in life he couldn't stand the man? She couldn't comprehend what she was seeing. After several moments of hesitation, she snatched the document off the table and read the contents, unwilling to just pass up this opportunity:

_Lavender~_

Hermione froze, panic hitting her hard. No, this couldn't be the truth. There was no way he would owl her, right? Not after everything that happened in their childhood with that wench!?

_I can't meet you tonight. Hermione wants me to go with her and the children to Harry's-_

She stopped reading again, dropped her arms, and looked away. A pain was slowly rising in her chest, poking at her like knives to meat. Thoughts jumped around wildly in her mind as she thought of all the implications, and wondered if she really wanted to continue on reading this letter, but knew that she had to. It would be worse if she left her thoughts hanging in the air like this for too long.

Shoving down her worries for what the rest of it implied, cleared her throat for no apparent reason, and read on.

_-To play with theirs. She hates when I disappear for lots of time, even though I'm an Auror. I can't just always sneak around! She's my wife Lavender above all else. What we have, it's special, but I can't always put you before her-_

The brunette bit her lip, feeling the tears slowly welling up in her eyes. What that woman had been blathering about could _not_ be true!

_-And you have to understand that. I married Hermione because I love her, but I love you too. It's hard for me to be with the both of you; you must understand. I will come and see you sometime darling, I promise. Just remember to keep this between us._

_~Ron_

She threw the letter, not caring a bit about where it ended up on the floor. Turning around, she gripped the desk from behind, bending slightly as she let out a choked sob. She couldn't comprehend just _what_ she was reading.

It couldn't be true. He wouldn't cheat on her!? Why would he? Throughout their marriage, he never showed a single sign of displeasure. Their sex life was fabulous; they clicked, and the children saw him as often as possible. They were a happy little set family. So why did he need something on the side? Why did he have to go behind her back all this time and lie and play her?

Another sob raked up her body, and she let go of the desk with one hand, sinking to the floor. Snapping her eyes shut, she attempted to calm herself by breathing in deep breaths, but only succeeded in letting out another sob. Her body gave in at that, and she flopped back against the desk, not caring that her head hit the hard wood. The tears were already eating at her.

He cheated on her; he took something perfect that they had together and threw it away by cheating on her while he was alive. And worse, Lavender had never lied- at least about fucking him. The child idea still seemed too far-fetched to her.

It was all too much for the brunette to take at the moment. Feeling overwhelmed, she made to stand again, deciding that she couldn't remain in that office another moment. Hermione just needed to get away from the entire situation and give herself a bit of space.

Half a second later, the floo roared to life, and her head snapped up. She had completely forgotten that Malfoy would be returning, and she would need to face him again. Once more gripping the desk, she tensed her body and faced away from him, suddenly horrified to look at him.

He _knew _Ron was cheating on her, and yet he failed to mention anything during the last few days that they were together! How dare he?!

"Sorry about that Granger, but I did have to- are you alright?" The blonde man behind her cut off mid-sentence, immediately noticing her stiff form. Wandering over to where she stood, he made to study her. "Is everything-?"

All at once, the woman whirled around on him, sending several papers into the floor. The tears that had been there only a moment ago were gone, replaced by a burning fire from deep in her soul. "You knew!?"

Draco frowned, looking confused by the question. "I knew what?"

She waved a finger at him, taking a step forward as he took one back. Obviously, he didn't do well with emotional women. "You knew Ron cheated on me and you didn't tell me?!"

"I knew nothing of the sort. Relationships like that really aren't things I try to concern myself in when researching a case. I leave that to the Aurors."

Her eyes darkened. "You're _lying_."

"Look, Granger, I understand that you're pretty emotionally torn up about things, but I didn't have anything to do with this nonsense you're going on about. I may not particularly like you, but I'm not that big of a jerk. I wouldn't _want_ to have anything to do with Lavender considering how much I know that you can't stand her. I wouldn't even try and involve myself in things. That's way too much drama."

Hermione's eyes narrowed into slits, and she spun away from him, searching across the desk with her eyes, now insistent to locate that damn paper again. Finally she located it on the floor, and quickly snatched it up, turning on her heel to shove it into the blonde, her had smacking against his chest.

"You're a fucking terrible liar." She shoved past him, hurrying off to the floo. Without waiting to see if he had anything to say, she picked up some powder in her sweaty palms and called out a destination, refusing to look at him as she did so. As the floo network pulled her away from the scene, her emotions got worse.

Remaining in his office, Draco sighed as the woman disappeared. Declaring her emotionally unstable in his mind, he turned his attention back to the paper she shoved at him, a frown taking over his face as he read every word.

"What the fuck, Granger? I've never even seen this before!"

* * *

Hermione didn't return to Malfoy's office that following day. Her daughter tried to make her feel better by baking, and only succeeded in making an utter mess of the kitchen and nearly caught the house on fire. After that, the brunette made sure to cat spells on everything in the kitchen, just to be safe, before she cleaned the room.

Returning home last night, she found her emotions to be completely unstable. Her mind couldn't decide if she was distraught, angry, hurt or all of the above. She would go from crying to venting to worrying about completely unrelated things. In the morning she thought back to the previous events and worried a bit for her own sanity.

It just didn't make sense. How could Ron do that to her? How could Ron possibly think this was alright, and that he _loved _them both? It felt like a weight sat on Hermione's chest as she cleaned, like the world was crashing down on her once more. Certainly her husband's death was the most traumatic thing she had ever experienced, but learning the truth about his relationship status was fairly devastating as well. She loved him with all her heart, gave him everything, and in return he stabbed her in the back by seeing another woman. This was yet another thing added to her overworked mind that the girl simply couldn't process. It was all too much.

But Lavender, Lavender had crossed a line. She not only slept with her husband behind the brunette's back, but she also tried to say that she was pregnant?! Hermione wanted to ring her neck at that point; all she wanted to do was never have to involve herself with the woman again. Yet Ron's past fling kept appearing in her life, and the brunette wasn't sure she could handle that. Knowing what she did now, Hermione was pretty sure she would only see red if she encountered Lavender again.

A thought kept poking at her mind though. What if the letter was fake? There was always that possibility, and without Ron around to question about things she would have to go and speak with Brown, something she wouldn't do unless she absolutely had to.

Hermione stopped cleaning for a moment, resting her head against the cabinet. She felt so drained since yesterday's discovery- no, since she found her husband's body. Everything seemed to weigh her down those days, and she could only focus on her children to keep her going. She wanted to know the origins behind her husband's murder, but with each new thing she learned, she grew weary of what else was in store for her.

She didn't even want to associate with Malfoy anymore. Their relationship from the start was awkward, and after discovering that he was keeping things from her, she wasn't even certain that she wanted to deal with him anymore. It was probably childish, but Hermione couldn't help it. She was frustrated and hurt by the situation, and just wanted to be finished with it.

Groaning, she stopped attempting to get anything done and slid down the cupboards of the cabinet by her, sinking into the floor. Tired of trying to figure out how she felt about things, she rested her head in her hands, thankful for the moment that Hugo was still asleep and Rose was in her room. For a moment, she just needed a break.

_No, I need someone to talk to._ Sighing, she remained on the ground a moment longer before struggling to her feet, finally admitting that moping around about her confused emotions wasn't going to do her any good. Wandering to the dining room, she found a scrap of paper and quickly scribbled out a note.

_Harry~_

_Would you mind stopping by today when you're finished with work? I need a friend._

_~Hermione_

It was short, sweet, and to the point. Hermione wasted no time grabbing Ron's old owl and sending the letter off, resting her head against the table when the bird was gone. Hopefully, she could get her thoughts straight once she spoke to someone, and finally start getting something done.

* * *

He was doing something really unorthodox for him, _really_ unorthodox. Draco Malfoy helped no one unless he had to, or unless it suited him. While this action might be useful to him later on, he knew he was doing something out of character and that thought poked at his mind with every step. Merlin, what was wrong with him?

Lavender Brown really wasn't his problem, not when his boss had already stopped the newspapers from publishing anymore of her ridiculous stories. But the letter between this woman and Ronald Weasley was his concern, since it could interfere with his investigation. After several hours of thinking that morning, he decided that although this course of action was one he wanted to avoid, it was probably for the best that he did something about the current situation. When Granger didn't arrive that morning he realized that she truly did think she was hiding this from her. And why wouldn't she? It wasn't like their history was fabulous.

Yet he knew that he had to do something about the letter. After rereading it a few times at home, the blonde had decided that he had to go see the woman in question. He could simply write it off as part of the investigation and go no further than that in his reports, but he needed to know the facts behind it, and more so, why a letter addressed to Lavender wasn't in her procession to begin with.

So there he was, outside the door of someone he had only known as easy during school, a Gryffindor through and through, and the very woman that made Granger's skin burn. Hopefully, this meeting wouldn't take very long at all. Knocking twice on the door he stood in front of, Draco waited for someone to answer.

Brown answered the door a moment later, taking a step back when she noticed who it was. "Draco Malfoy? Oh no, you didn't bring Hermione along did you?"

"No, I'm here alone today," he replied, recalling that they saw Brown outside of Cho Chang's home just yesterday. "I came to speak to you actually."

Lavender rolled her eyes at that. "I'm not really all that interested in speaking to you Malfoy. Your department has cut off anything I can get published in a paper, and since the media's attention was the best leverage I had to get someone to listen to my case, I'm not too interested in conversing with you. Find someone else to bother." She moved to shut the door, but he caught the frame with ease and merely raised an eyebrow at her.

"We need to talk," he said, pointedly ignoring her last few sentences. "Something came to my attention today that I found rather interesting, and I think you're the only person who can shed some light on the subject."

"Well, what's that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow now. She watched as he silently withdrew something from his pocket, something that he handed to her. She snatched the piece of blue paper away immediately, seeming a bit offset by the scrap. When she unfolded it and read the contents however, her eyes widened.

"Where… where did you get this?"

He beckoned with his hand that they should go inside. "Actually, that's what I've come to discuss with you. Now do you really want to have this conversation in the hallway?" Shaking her head once, she stepped back and allowed him in, shutting the door behind him.

Draco took a seat on the couch, making himself comfortable as the confused witch read the note over again. When she did finally look back up at him, he couldn't honestly read what emotions were in her eyes.

"I'll ask again Malfoy," she said, her tone bitter, "Where did you get this? It's private!"

"That's what I thought," the blonde replied, shrugging his shoulders lazily, "But privacy isn't why I came down here today. Oddly enough, Granger found that note in my office yesterday, which is quite the oddity considering that I didn't even know it was there until after she finished reading it."

Lavender sank into a chair, her eyes growing wide. "Hermione read this too? Now she really will never listen to me!"

"Why would she to begin with, Brown? You two aren't exactly on good terms with each other."

"I need her to listen," the woman replied, glancing away. "I needed to speak with her about so many things, but if she found this I doubt she will be any easier to correspond with."

Draco nodded just once. "Indeed. But Brown, I didn't come here to talk about your problems. I'm here on business matters only."

Immediately, Lavender's eyes narrowed. "And what business do you have here? I haven't done anything illegal Malfoy, which means you can't peg anything on me. Whatever you're here for is probably some misleading link someone gave you to… something. I don't know, but whatever it is, will you please leave? I don't have the time for this." Despite her words, Lavender tucked the letter into a pocket within her clothes, something that did not pass by the blonde.

"I can assure you that this matter is in direct relation to you," he replied smoothly, never missing a beat. "You're aware of course that Granger's former husband is dead, right?"

"Yes," she snapped, "And I could name off a million suspects for you!" Shaking her head, she crossed her arms. "Since you know that I truly was involved with Ron, I may as well not hold the details back. Hermione got the soft side of Ron, the caring father and sweet lover. I got the rogue side, the sinister side, the side that enjoyed dark habits."

"And what _"dark habits" _did Weasley have?" the blonde asked.

The woman hesitated then, pursing her lips several times before responding. "Are you going to use this in a courtroom at all?"

"This is hardly a severe interrogation," Draco replied with a scoff. "Besides, whatever bad things you have to say would probably never be used to begin with. I am supposed to be figuring out who murdered him as well as Chang, not attempting to make him look bad."

Brown hesitated a moment longer before she said anything. "Ron liked to gamble. He would drink sometimes, and when he got too drunk he would get rowdy and make a lot of people quite mad. Hermione… Hermione is a gentle soul, and after the war she apparently wanted to settle down in life. Ron respected that to the highest degree and never took her anywhere or did anything with her that she wouldn't be comfortable with. But he wanted the adventure, and he wanted the life of a partier. When we ran into each other one day, I invited him out for drinks, knowing that he was married. I figured Hermione would have his head when he brought the topic up considering our past, and even before he arrived I expected to see the brunette woman in tow. He surprised me when he came alone, saying that he needed a night of adventure." She shrugged, looking away from the blonde's penetrating gaze.

"I wasn't attached to anyone, and I still had feelings for him that were buried until I saw him again. We drank, and things got out of hand. The first time was a mistake, and he regretted it. He loved Hermione so _fucking _much." Draco could hear the jealousy in her voice. "But he tried to convince me that he loved me too. We had the party life, and Hermione provided the home life setting he yearned for. When they had their second child he disappeared for a while, feeling obligated to be by her side during that time. He wouldn't stop talking about the baby! I admit I understand that people have a special connection to their children, but it was hurtful."

The blonde nodded once, quite uncomfortable now. He meant to go over and get a few specific answers, not listen to this girl spill out her entire soul.

Her hands moved to hold her stomach, and he raised a single eyebrow. She was going to bring this nonsense up again? "I found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago. Ron died two and a half months ago, and that's about how long I've been experiencing the symptoms. I'm using a concealment charm currently Malfoy until people actually start believing my words. Someone saw me the other day and when they realized the truth, they screamed so many horrid things in my direction that I had to hide the signs. I don't wish to be verbally abused over something I can no longer control."

"Do you expect people to be happy?" he asked, keeping his eyebrow high on his head as he spoke. "You're the other woman technically in this scenario; you're the one that knew this relationship was shit. Granger's the one that's going to get beat up emotionally, and if you haven't already experienced that, then you are in denial at what's going on around you. People don't usually side with the whores who help people cheat."

The woman's features flushed red. "I'm not a whore!"

"Well, that's how the tabloids will describe you if there is any truth behind this conspiracy. In fact, I think they have hinted towards that already. They can't use that specific word in the Prophet after all."

Insulted, the woman stood, marching over to a nearby room and she disappeared inside. The blonde waited patiently for her to return, knowing that his reason for being there wasn't quite yet complete. She returned with a few scraps of paper a moment later, stomping over to him so she could throw them in his lap.

"Am I still a liar?"

Curiously, Draco picked the papers up and studied them. Apparently, Brown was tired of being called a fake. She had a signed document stating that she was pregnant from one of the Healer's that Draco was fairly familiar with at St. Mungo's, along with several other papers regarding checkups and all those things that he was a bit familiar with from when his estranged wife was pregnant.

"Impressive, Brown. Once in a blue moon something honest does come out of your mouth. But you're still going to have just as hard of a time now that you truly are pregnant. Some of your better friends might hang around, but in the public's eye, you're still going to be the other woman carrying a dead man's child."

Her face heated up at that, but for once Lavender didn't have a comment to Draco's words. Though he was thankful for that, the blonde was slightly curious as to why it was so easy to get her to shut up with that single phrase.

"Why are you here?" she asked at length, her voice quiet. "What can I possibly do for you?"

"Well, you've already given me enough to not have to question you about anything concerning your relationship with the Weasel," Draco said, the sarcasm evident in his tone. "I originally came to discuss the note, as well as just a few questions about Weasley and Chang."

"Just make it fast," she snapped, pulling on the edges of her shirt. She was getting antsy, and he could tell that the topic was eating at her emotionally.

"Very well. When was the last time you saw Weasley alive?"

"About two hours before the reports started flying around about his death," she said, glancing away. "I tried to get into St. Mungo's to see him, but the Healer's refused me and I wasn't about to try and speak to Hermione."

"Did anything seem wrong with him?"

"He was agitated that day," the girl replied, shrugging one shoulder. "I just figured it had to do with work."

"Did he say anything to you that might hint at the fact that he may have known that he was going to die."

"Outside of his agitation? No, nothing seemed unusual about him. But like I said Malfoy, I could give you a list of people who would kill him just from our associations in the darker pubs. We couldn't just go anywhere, not when he was married, so we usually frequented the shadier taverns and that earned us quite a lot of looks. Anyone there could be the culprit."

Although the blonde didn't really believe that some random person from a club ended Weasley in the same grotesque way that it seemed that Chang was murdered, he didn't want to stomp the possibility. Brown had been interrogated before, but Draco didn't think that the reports did Brown any justice. She had a lot of different viewpoints that could be investigated, easily. She could be the key to a lead and no one even knew it.

"Why don't you write those names down for me?" he asked, pulling a bit of parchment and a quill from his pocket. Handing them to her, he took a deep breath. He still had so many questions to ask this woman.

If he was lucky, something useful would come out of it. Now if he could only figure out the connection between Cho and Weasley…

* * *

**A/n: **I know it's been a while. I actually had this chapter all typed up ages ago, but then I lost the flash drive for a bit, and now that I've recovered it its damaged. I'm getting a new one to transfer all my old files to and hopefully everything will still be good enough to use. Even though it's been a good while, will you spot me a review loves? I think I need some new inspiration!


	8. He was a Good Man

**A/n:** So I hope you enjoy this chapter! More plot development, as well as bits of problems and drama. I worked on this chapter for a bit to make sure it worked well with the next one. You can always check me out on facebook if you want! The link is up on my profile. Thanks to my beta **Morbidkitten2**!

* * *

_And the preacher said_

**He was a Good Man**

"You can't be serious," Harry said, shaking his head as he sat beside Hermione on the couch. "Ron wouldn't-"

"Yes he would!" she spat, cutting him off. Even after several hours of discussion, the woman was still emotionally unstable. And who could blame her? Her dead husband had been a cheater for Merlin's sake, deceiving her for years! For the first time since she wed Ronald Weasley, she felt like she had a whole trove of mysteries to unlock about him. But unlike the first few years of their marriage, she was not at all excited to investigate these secrets. "I saw the proof with my own eyes Harry; I know the truth. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't believe it."

"What did you do with the letter?" her friend asked, remaining the level headed one of the two. "I'd like to see this."

She waved her hand. "It's back in Malfoy's office, that's where I found it. I don't know why he had it, and frankly I don't really care either. But I didn't wait around to get an explanation, or to take the fucking thing with me. Why would I want to carry something like that around?"

"Yes, I suppose you wouldn't want to do that," he grumbled. A few ideas ran through his head on what to say next, but he decided against everything due to the fact that he didn't want to upset her more. Poor Hermione was torn up enough about this as it was. Glancing back at her, he noted that she had buried her face into her hands. Reaching around the woman, he pulled her into a hug.

"What if this is why he died?" she asked, speaking quietly. "What if someone killed him because he was sleeping with someone's wife? There would have to be more of them than Lavender for tat… oh my god Harry what if there's more than her?! What if he's been making a fool of me for ages, sleeping around-"

"Hey," he remarked, cutting her off. "Hermione, don't jump to conclusions. The only person you can even be positive about at this point is Lavender, okay? Don't make matters worse for you right now; you don't need the extra stress. But Hermione, you realize what you have to do now, right?"

"Jump off of something?" she whispered.

Harry switched his arms around at that, moving to shake the poor woman. "_No._ Don't even begin talking like that Hermione. You survived Ron's death, you're still surviving, and this is nothing in comparison. It might show his true colors, but it doesn't change the fact that you loved him, or that you adore your _children._ Don't forget, you still have them in the world."

To that she glanced away, uncomfortable at being called out for her brief moment of weakness, a moment where she might've contemplated death. But Harry was right, and her mind was simply to disjointed at the moment to think properly. Yes, that must be the problem.

"I would never abandon Rose or Hugo," she said, speaking truthfully. And Harry believed her. "But I know what you're hinting at Harry, and I won't do it."

"You need to. Speaking with Lavender will give you a chance to vent, and set the record straight. You can have one single conversation with her and be done with the entire ordeal. It will also give you some time to abolish that rubbish about her being pregnant."

The brunette scoffed. "I've already seen her once recently, before discovering that blasted letter. She was still pushing the baby topic then, though I don't know why she bothers. Everyone will know she's a liar when several months from now there is no baby around."

Harry was quiet for a moment, apparently thinking over her words. "Yes, quite."

She didn't like the way he said that, but left it be. Why trouble herself with that single statement when she had so many other things on her mind?

"I suppose then that you're going to stay away from Malfoy's office?" Harry continued, dragging their conversation on despite her dislike for it.

"I should probably return," she said, her mind flying back to those little folders on the case, folders that might conceal the answers to her late-husband's murder. "I still have to bring Ron's death to justice, no matter what." She glanced his way. "He was my husband Harry. I can't just turn away from the case now. Malfoy actually lets me look through the real files, and I even went with him the other day to Cho Chang's place-"

"_You_ went with to Chang's?" Harry asked, sounding horrified. "The Aurors that went and discovered the body were disgusted, I can't imagine that being a good experience for you after everything! This was his idea, huh? He wants to scare you!"

Gently, she turned and rested a hand against her friends chest, too used to his protective ways. Even before her husband was ripped from the earth, she was used to Harry being worried about her safety. It came with his big-brother nature. "I'm fine, Harry. I decided that I wanted to go along and investigate the murder hit; Malfoy actually protested me coming along."

Looking unconvinced, Harry kept pushing. "I still don't think it's a good idea that you're working with him Hermione. We've all had our history with him, and we know from experience that he's not the most pleasant fellow."

"I never said he was Harry. But his boss is another former Slytherin- Theodore Nott, I'm not sure that you would remember him- and I doubt that the man is too concerned about how either of us feel in this situation. And anyway, Malfoy might not be my favorite person on the planet, but he's proved intolerable at times. Oddly enough, I think the events during the war may just have made him a touch more human."

The wizard scoffed. "I doubt that."

"It's true," she argued. "He has a child now as well- one that I met- and although he isn't the most well-mannered child I have ever met Malfoy seems to really love him. He's divorced from some crazy woman, who I also met, and he actually takes his job seriously. He won't even let me look into things that he believes might be traumatizing. You might have him pegged as a spawn of Satan, but I don't think he's quite so bad anymore."

Harry looked floored. "Have you lost your mind? This is Malfoy we're talking about! You know, Ferret-Boy?"

"I know who we're talking about," she replied, rolling her eyes. But remember, he pretty much lost his parents in that war. Lucius is in prison, and Merlin knows where Narcissa ran off to. That first rich man she married divorced her some years ago, and I haven't bothered figuring out where she ended up since. He's just trying to move on from those years and live, like anyone else involved.

Again, her friend looked unconvinced. As for as he was concerned, all that really came out of that conversation was that Hermione was _defending_ the former Slytherin King. He couldn't believe what he was hearing by that point. He opened his mouth to try and remind her of who she was speaking of, but a knock on her front door cut him short.

They were sitting in her living room, the large front window cloaked by heavy- but light colored- curtains. He raised an eyebrow at the sound, so used to people just apparating places in the magical world that it was unorthodox to have someone come to the front door. He looked over at Hermione to see if she was just as confused, but the look on her face told him that she seemingly already knew who it was.

"Who-"

"Harry," Hermione said, cutting him off mid-sentence, "I need to have you go now."

"What? Why? Hermione, who do you think this is?"

Sighing, she picked her wand up from where it rested on the table and waved it at the curtains, using a spell to make them invisible on just one side. On the other, both adults could clearly see the form of Draco Malfoy standing on the front step, tapping his foot in impatience.

"What's he doing here?" the raven-haired boy hissed, glancing between Hermione and the door.

"I don't know," she replied, sounding entirely unconcerned about having the man outside her home. "I refuse to open my floo up to him, so he insists on coming over this way. I'm surprised he even bothers to."

"Why would he?" Harry asked, still thrown by the situation.

The woman shrugged. "I don't know. The first time he came by babbling about the Lavender situation in the papers and a bunch of rubbish concerning a case- later I learned what he was actually hinting at. I can't fathom what would drive him down here again. It's not like he especially needs me in his office; it's Nott that wants me there."

Harry stood. "I can get rid of him-"

"No need," she replied, already wandering towards the door. "Do you mind if we cut this conversation short? I am curious what he wants."

"Why?"

"Because, he wouldn't bother coming to find me unless he had a good reason. Malfoy isn't one to actually do things for other people. He must have something on his mind to drive him here and so late in the day no less."

Her friend scoffed. "Or he plans to be a royal pain."

"Either way Harry, he never really says anything to me unless it's something important, even at the Ministry." She knew that wasn't entirely true, but couldn't help herself. She was very curious now about why Malfoy would come by again.

Another knock sounded, this time louder. The man sighed at this, looking unsure. "You really want to know what he has to say, don't you?"

"He brought me some interesting news the last time we spoke Harry, and I don't doubt that he will again if he's here. Maybe… maybe it's something good."

The man beside her pursed his lips, knowing that the woman was just hoping to hear an explanation to the letter she had found. What else could she expect? But Harry didn't like the situation, and certainly didn't like that it seemed as though Malfoy had been lying to his friend since he came to find her. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it. Pieces of the puzzle were missing, and he was afraid of those pieces. When the truth evolving around this mess finally came out, who was to say that Hermione wouldn't be hurt more? And not just about Lavender, but about Ron's death. He didn't want to suffer anymore, and he didn't think she could take much more either.

But, Malfoy? Malfoy spelled a whole other set of problems. He couldn't predict what the blonde would do, or if he would do anything to make matters worse. He wasn't close to Draco after all.

He really hated himself. "Just be careful talking to the likes of him," Harry warned, sending one last fleeting glance towards the door. "Don't listen to everything he has to say."

"I can handle myself Harry," she reminded, brushing at her cheeks. If any stray tears remained, she didn't want Malfoy to see them. He'd have something to say to that, and she wasn't in the mood to tolerate his snarky behavior just because she knew how to feel real emotion.

"I know," he replied, though he didn't like it. He wanted her to be safe. Without thinking, he moved quickly and encased the woman in a tight hug before she could protest the action. "Good luck," he whispered, hoping he wasn't being an absolute fool by letting her hang around that man. No matter what, he would never trust Malfoy, not really.

Hermione waited until Harry had flooed out of the house and a third knock had sounded before she opened the door. On the other side she found the blonde still waiting, looking quite perturbed at having to wait for so long.

"You're walls are thin," he snapped, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. "I could hear you in there talking for the past ten minutes you know."

In return, she just rolled her eyes. "It has not been ten minutes Malfoy, don't over exaggerate things. Now is there something I can do for you?"

"Well, to begin Granger, you weren't at the office today."

"I didn't feel inclined to come," she responded quickly, crossing her arms as well. "Not after what _I_ found yesterday."

Wearily, he rubbed his face as he listened. "Look, Granger, I don't know where the blasted letter came from. Romantic ties are useless to me as far as this investigation goes, and why ever would I want to tangle myself up in your drama? Up until you threw it on the floor I hadn't known the fucking thing was even there."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't believe that for a minute. It was on your desk- it's not the tidiest desk I've ever seen, but it's not overflowing with papers either. And besides, I've seen you clean the bloody thing every day before leaving work! You had to know it was there!"

Groaning, he resisted the urge to say something truly offensive regarding her dead husband, and bit his tongue. "Granger, can I just come in? I think we should talk."

"About how you've been lying to me? I don't know why I expected anything less from you Malfoy, but this is low. After all the shit I've been through, you've been withholding something like this? Are you batty?! I can't believe-"

"That we should continue this inside?" he interjected, jerking his head to the left. She glanced out the front door, noting that the neighbors next door were watching them. Grumbling, she took a step back and allowed him in, if only to have the conversation in private.

"We should've done that originally," he said once inside, and she bit her cheek at that. Why did he always have to act like such a prick?

"What do you want, Malfoy?" she asked, not missing a beat.

"What, surprised to see me? You probably thought that you wouldn't have to bother with me if you didn't come to work today." He stopped beside her sofa, considered the object a moment, and finally took a seat. "However, Nott still expects us to be working _together _on the case, so unless you go up yourself and explain that you want nothing more to do with me, it's still expected that we speak." He bit his tongue to keep from sliding in a cutting remark there at the end.

"Well, I don't want to work with you," she said dismissively, waving her hand. "It was a waste of time for you to come and find me if you only planned to come here and harass me about that bloody position at the Ministry, then just go away. I want nothing more to do with it."

"Touchy," he replied, seeming unmoved by her speech. "However, I'm not here to discuss the dismal pleasures of work. My shift would be over now as it is, and I try to not concern myself with work-related matters once I am free from the place for the day. But I did come here with a meaning Granger, and if you would be quiet for a bit, I can explain it to you."

Rolling her eyes, the woman flopped down onto her couch. "Whatever, go on. You're not going to leave until you've spoken as it is."

In return, he smirked. Well, she just knew him so well. Taking a seat beside her on the sofa, he reached into his robes and withdrew a piece of paper. "Now don't try to hex me over this- it's not my fault. I did a little investigating after you found that letter in my office- since I _don't_ know where it came from- and I went to speak to Brown. Unfortunately, she blabbed more to me than I ever wanted to know." Handing her the page, he stood again and paced the room slowly, taking his time. He didn't want to be anywhere near her when she read the full contents of the note.

At first, her expression didn't change as she paced. Unlike him, she appeared to be reading everything in great detail, whereas he just skimmed until he found what he wanted. But it didn't take long for her face to contort into a look of horror. He wasn't entirely sure when she finished reading the note, but at one point he realized she had to be finished, and wandered up to the woman, gently prying the note from her hands. She didn't resist as he removed the parchment, tucking it back into his robes before taking a seat again, making sure to leave some room between them.

"I thought you should know," he said, refusing to look her way. "I took that when I left her home yesterday, after investigating everything I could possibly think of." Shifting uncomfortably, he ran a hand through his disheaved hair. "It's not exactly the best news, but I would certainly want to know if my spouse had that lengthy of an affair with someone else."

At first she didn't respond, focusing too much on ensuring that her lip didn't tremble. "She… she gave this to you?"

He waved a hand at that, not caring if she didn't look over at the action. "I was trying to call her bluff on the entire situation, and she whipped that out. Said that she was using a concealment spell or something."

Slowly, Hermione felt her head sinking forward until her hands came up to cradle her cranium. "I can't believe it… I don't."

"The truth hurts," he said lamely, focusing on a boring picture on the wall to avoid looking at the depressed woman. "I didn't really expect for this meeting to go… well."

"You actually thought-"

Hermione quickly shut her mouth at the sound of footsteps, lifting her head to glance in the direction they were coming from. Peeking around the corner stood her daughter, biting at her lip and looking uncertainly between the two adults.

"Rose," Hermione said, falling off the couch onto her knees. Draco watched her closely, wondering if the woman was about to crumble. She looked distressed over the entire situation, and the glossy look appearing suddenly in her eyes worried him a tad. It wouldn't do to have her break into uncontrollable tears in front of her daughter; that's one way to alarm a child. "What… what are you doing up still?"

It wasn't extraordinarily late by any means, and Hermione knew it. But she put the children to bed early when Harry arrived after his shift at work, knowing that she needed privacy while she spoke about the sensitive topic. Unfortunately, her firstborn didn't seem like she was very tired. Rose's eyes flickered between the two adults once more before she spoke.

"I heard you talking," she said, focusing on Draco now. "I didn't know him. I don't know his voice."

"Don't worry, I won't be around much," the blonde replied, eyeing the little girl. She didn't seem at all bothered by his lukewarm tone.

"Rose, honey," Hermione said, forcing herself to get off of the floor. "Come on, let's go back to bed. I'm just having a talk out here."

The child looked carefully at her mother now. "You're so sad."

Waving a hand, the woman stumbled over to her daughter, forcing down any of the emotions that where slowly eating at her soul. "Don't worry honey, it's nothing." Scooping the girl up in her arms, she prayed that she would make it up to the bedroom before tears started flowing out. "It's just a long day."

Unconvinced, the child rested her chin against her mother's shoulder, watching the form of Draco Malfoy shrink as they walked further and further away from the living room. She didn't ask another question.

Hermione on the other hand wished she hadn't picked her daughter up. Clutching the small girl to her form, images began swirling in her head. Someday Lavender would have a child to hold to her, to hug and kiss and watch grow up. A child that would be half her husbands, a child that may have been hers under different circumstances.

Reality was crashing down on her slowly. Despite everything, she never wanted to face this truth. Even if Ron cheated on her, broke her trust and used someone else behind her back, it was better than to think that he got another woman pregnant. He was supposed to just be hers, all hers, and yet he shared himself with another. He gave someone else a child, someone who was not his wife, when it took her three years to convince him that it was time for children. It all felt so very wrong in that moment and she couldn't erase those thoughts.

And she couldn't erase the ache in her chest. Nothing felt right anymore, and taking in the truth just then was too much. Halfway up the steps, she sat down, clutching her daughter tightly, attempting to force down painful sobs.

"Mommy?" Rose asked, peeling away from her body. "Mommy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said, not at all convincing her daughter. Pulling her arms away from the young girl, Hermione covered her face, feeling another sob working its way up her body. This time, the sound was loud, and poor Rose looked alarmed at the noise.

"Mommy," she said, pulling gently on her arm, "What's wrong? Why are you so sad?"

Shaking her head, the adult refused to look at the little girl, fighting with herself to stay in control. Everything was messed up, and here she losing control of her emotions in front of her four-year old, a child that was three only a few weeks ago. She had to be scaring her, and yet she couldn't stop the raging emotions.

She felt the weight on her legs disappear, and heard a man's voice above her. Without looking up, she knew it was Draco, knowing he was the only other adult in the house. Whipping her eyes quickly, she looked up to see him stepping over her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, alarmed that he was taking her daughter away. The blonde just peered at her as he made to round the corner, giving her a strange look.

"I'm going to put your daughter to bed," he replied simply, adjusting the girl in his arms. "You're obviously not going anywhere." She opened her mouth to say something to that, but he cut her off. "Don't argue Granger, you know it's true. I could hear your sobs downstairs. I'll be back in just a minute." Without waiting for her to protest, he rounded the corner and disappeared.

Hermione turned her face down once he was gone, refusing to look him in the face again when he returned. The fact that she was being so weak and helpless in his presence was bad enough, but she didn't want him to rub it in.

The man returned quickly, attempting to pull her up by the hand. His frustration became obvious when she wouldn't move. "Get up Granger, you can't just sit here all night. You need to get to bed-"

"I'm not going to my bedroom," she cried, and despite all the emotion embodied in that statement the words came out as no more than a whisper. To this, he sighed.

"At least get up; you've scared your daughter as it is. Come back downstairs or something."

Struggling to stand on her suddenly tired legs, the woman used the banister to hoist herself up. Walking down merely two steps she paused and attempted to compose herself, still having difficulty keeping her loud sobs at bay.

Behind her, she could hear him cussing, and why wouldn't he? Malfoy didn't sign up for this! But what happened next wasn't something she suspected, and she had nothing to say about the matter. He simply grabbed her hand and started pulling the woman down the stairs, forcing her to follow.

He wasn't rough; he wasn't even being rude. It was nothing more than a tug on her arm, pulling her in the right direction. In all her years, she never expected Malfoy to be sensitive to anyone's feelings- let alone hers- when a person was in turmoil.

If nothing else, he was surprising her that night, both in good and bad ways.

* * *

**A/n:** Well, hi there! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I actually quite enjoyed writing it. I kind of have a layout for the story now, so hopefully things will seem smoother in the coming chapters.

For anyone that is into forums, check out The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition! I'm actually in this forum. It's quite large, and we need a certain amount of members to start the competition! It's a team's thing, based off of Quidditch teams and the positions! Confused? Interested? Check it out! Once all positions are full the forum game will begin! You can even be on the team I'm on if you want, if you want to be captain :)

forum/The-Quidditch-League-Fanfiction-Competition/ 134505/


	9. He was a Good Friend

**A/n: **Hi again! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter! Early update so enjoy! Thanks again to my beta **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

_And his brother said_

**He was a Good Friend**

When Hermione awoke the following morning, the first thing she registered was that her back hurt. Groaning as she attempted to sit up, wiping sleep from her eyes, she glanced around, noting that she had fallen asleep in the chair in the living room.

_Strange, I always sleep on the couch._

And then they hit her. Memories of the previous night flew back to her, arriving in miss-conjoined snippets that she tried to put together as her mind began to fill in the blanks. She recalled everything that happened after Malfoy shared with her such shattering news, including when he took her daughter upstairs to her bedroom when Hermione herself was too distraught to move. It was one of the most thoughtful things he had ever done on her behalf.

Then she recalled being dragged downstairs, the blonde man gripping her hand. He led her to a chair, told her to not get up, and actually got her a cup of water. When he inquired whether or not she had whiskey, she rolled her eyes and refused to reply. And then, the silence came.

Silence like this with Malfoy was unheard of. Usually if they were alone but not speaking it meant that they were working, but this situation wasn't like that at all. She sat staring at her cup, finding it the ideal object to use to avoid looking at him. He had taken to staring- practically glaring- at the ceiling, seemingly searching for something of interest up there.

Yet he stayed, despite the fact that she hadn't needed him to. He stayed around and waited until she seemed calm- or calmer- about the subject. And when she finally seemed to be acting semi-normal again, he spoke.

_"You don't have any sleeping potion, do you?"_

_"Malfoy, taking a potion to sleep is bad for you and can become addictive. Why would I have that?"_

_"Why? You're widowed; you just learned that your darling husband cheated on you for Merlin knows how long, and that he also got his favorite side woman pregnant. Why wouldn't you have a sleeping potion?"_

_She sighed at that, moving out of her chair and to the kitchen. He followed, but remained in the doorway as she searched through a cabinet for her old container of the potion. When she did find it, she looked back at him with heavy eyes._

_"I've been avoiding using this since his death, you know."_

_"Well, if you don't use it tonight, I can guarantee that you won't sleep. And considering that you probably scared your daughter, you should at least try to seem decent in the morning. Just take it Granger; one time won't kill you."_

_Although she didn't believe him, she leveled with his thinking for just one night. Returning to the living room, he remained until after she had taken the potion, and began feeling the effects of it._

_"Do you plan to come to work tomorrow? Or shall I tell Nott that you quit?"_

_Part of Hermione wanted to say no, she was done with the place, done with figuring out things that hurt her more than helped, but she knew that was foolish. If she only ever wanted to hear the good, she would never have started going there to begin with. Yawning, she settled deeper into the chair._

_"Yes, I'll be there."_

_"Good. See you in the morning, Granger."_

Recalling what happened last night, she partially regretted her decision to go back. She wanted a day to herself to mourn, but if she didn't show up again she ran the risk of having Malfoy back at her door, and she simply couldn't handle _that_. Besides, they probably had more than enough things to discuss that morning, and she didn't want to waste time sorting things out.

And in case it came in, she wanted to hear the report on Chang. Despite the grotesque scene that would forever haunt her nightmares, she wanted to know what honestly happened to the woman. If the murder was at all related to Ron's death, then she could help honor more than one person by continuing with this case. And that was the main reason she decided to take up this case in the first place and agree to Malfoy's ludicrous offer, right?

Well, she thought so anyway.

* * *

"We're going up to autopsy," he said, leading her down the halls. Hermione had convinced Harry to watch her children for the day, after making Rose a super special breakfast and promising to go see Harry after her shift. "It's kind of like what muggles do, but the process moves along quicker here."

"And so then they have a diagnosis on Chang? They know what caused her death?"

Draco paused walking, turning to look at the woman following him. They hadn't spoken much about the night before, or her deceased husband since arriving, but he wasn't entirely sure about bringing her upstairs with him. "Look, Granger, this isn't the kindest thing to go see. There might be a lot, or very few, similarities between Chang's murder and Weasley's. It's a bit… disturbing to see sometimes. I attempted to convince Nott to not have you come-"

"Would you stop trying to convince people of things on my behalf?" she asked, rolling her eyes. "I'm perfectly capable of deciding what I can and cannot handle. I survived a war, and I'm a grown woman. If I didn't think coming along to this visit for me was good for me then I wouldn't. I'm not out to scar myself more."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Just like you were sure you wanted to come along when we initially found Chang's body?"

Biting the inside of her lip, she searched for a cunning remark. Did he have to bring that up? "All the more reason to go now. I've seen the initial damage, the blood and all, and now I want to see the actual wounds. Now would you stop being so unusually concerned and just take me?"

Throwing his hands up, the blonde turned around and began walking again. "Fine, whatever. But don't make a big deal out of things if you can't handle it. I actually need to listen, and I can't watch you lose your lunch again if I'm supposed to be listening to the doctor up there."

She rolled her eyes, following behind him. He might seem hostile, but she knew from experience that he wasn't so bad. He could be nice at times, if he tried. He just didn't want to admit it, so for now she would leave it be- or at least, until after their appointment visiting Chang's body.

Autopsy wasn't the best place Hermione had ever visited, considering that she knew that bodies lay just out of her view, placed on cold metal slabs. That idea wasn't exactly comforting as she followed Malfoy into the room, but she tried to block the thoughts out. She was there for a purpose after all, and she wasn't going to let her mind wander any further than it already was.

"Ah, Mr. Malfoy," came the voice of a man, someone she had never seen before. He had a balding head, round glasses, and a grin from ear to ear. She thought that was a bit controversial considering his job, but didn't comment on the subject. "I was wondering when I would be seeing you today."

"I wanted to get down here quickly," Draco replied, leaning against the wall, "You're report will hopefully shed some light on certain things."

"I see," the man replied, nodding. His eyes shifted past the blonde to Hermione, who stood back with her arms crossed, letting the two converse. "And this is?"

"Hermione Granger," she said quickly, cutting in before the man could. Draco glanced at her, wondering about the last name she gave. After all, hadn't she been on his arse about calling her Granger?

The man's eyes twinkled. "_The_ Hermione Granger? War heroine? Wife of the deceased-"

"Yes, her," the blonde man snapped, intersecting again, "In the flesh. Now Mr. Steiner, the body?"

Mr. Steiner hesitated a moment, glancing over at the woman again as though he wanted to say something to her. He never did however and instead turned away to face one of those dreadful medal slabs, with what could only be presumed to be Chang's body hidden beneath a white sheet. "Ah yes, about Cho Chang."

Before saying anything else the man took a folder off a nearby table and handed it to Malfoy, sending Hermione a gentle smile. She returned the gesture, thinking the old man seemed rather kind indeed.

"Miss Chang suffered numerous blows to the body. The cuts and scratches located on the legs were left by a blade, nothing long but certainly sharp. They weren't deep, but seemingly were inflicted before she died. The torso was torn open using a slicing spell, leaving nothing really to trace. Once the insides of this young woman were revealed, the heart was stabbed through, using a broken piece of glass that was left within the body. The scalping, which removed much of the young woman's hair cut through the skin and left gashes, which would've caused severe problems had she lived."

Reaching for the sheet, Mr. Steiner paused. He was staring at Hermione again, a guarded look adoring his features. Everyone knew what she had experienced, and he was not different, acting like she should be guarded around her.

"Go ahead," the blonde man said, speaking before she could. Hermione moved up to his side then, choosing to have a better look. She might regret the action later, but hopefully for now she would be able to handle things. And why wouldn't she? At least now, the body was cleaned up a bit.

The sheet was removed, only showing the top of Chang's body down to her shoulders. Even to just that point Hermione couldn't help but cringe. The man began speaking once more, but she found herself unable to focus as she took in the true extent of the damage.

She was able to tell where the gashes were deep, long, missing chunks of flesh. It was horrible to look at, to know that someone had suffered such pains before death finally took them. She gently gripped the table, studying the missing patches of hair, where cuts could be seen. Strangely, she wasn't as alarmed by what she saw as the first time when they found Chang, Regrettably, she had seen this type of torture before.

Ron, he had been scalped. Chunks of his lovely red hair torn from his head, leaving behind uneven patches. She recalled though that when she found his… corpse, he had a large gash across his forehead, as though someone meant to cut the top of his head off…

She stopped thinking, deciding to not go any further with her thoughts. If she kept envisioning Ron, she was going to cry, and that was just going to prompt another agreement with Malfoy, as if she needed that. Looking back at Chang again, she forced her emotions down, focusing solely on studying the girl.

There was nothing else really that caught her attention that seemed exceptionally peculiar about the body. Releasing her grip from the table again, she stood back and attempted to fall back into the conversation.

"… Interesting thing is really the gashes on her arms. They almost appear to form a word."

Glad that she was listening now, Hermione glanced at Malfoy to see his reaction, but the man's face was masked. She didn't know why she expected anything else, and glanced back at Chang in time to see the sheet pull back and reveal her body, the necessary precautions already taken now that she was dead. Oddly enough, it looked like something the girl was used to seeing off of _NCIS_.

On her torso, the violence appeared more profound. Hermione didn't even bother studying it at length this time, knowing her mind would wander towards dangerous topics again. Yet she couldn't focus on the man's words, and could only follow his finger with her eyes down to a set of scars on her stomach, placed around the large incision that split her torso open to begin with.

_Bleed._ The word had no in depth meaning to the woman, but the fact that anything at all was written into the Cho's flesh was alarming. She remembered Ron bore a similar word, _Blood. _Looking at Malfoy now, he glanced her way. It was very possible that both parties were killed know, he glanced her way. It was very possible that both parties were killed by the same madman.

"Thank you Steiner," Draco said, suddenly cutting the evaluation short. "I'll take the rest of the report with me to study later."

The old man seemed completely unfazed by this sudden interruption, and merely handed over the documents with a gleam in his eyes. "Connecting the dots are we, Malfoy?"

"I hope," he replied, looking a bit uncertain. Bidding the doctor goodbye, he turned and headed out.

"Goodbye Miss Hermione," the man called, and the girl glanced back to wave, sending him a small smile. He was probably the most pleasant person she had met thus far in this portion of the Ministry.

Wandering back to Malfoy's office seemed more like a race than a paced walk. The blonde moved quite quickly, and the girl's body simply did not want to have to follow him at a jog. Why he was suddenly so apt to get back escaped her, though she couldn't deny that she was also quite curious to get back and study the report. Although the few similarities between Cho and Ron were unsettling, they were something. And that gave her a spark of confidence that they might actually catch the killer. Lately, her confidence on such matters had been wavering.

"Malfoy, would you walk like a normal person?" He paused his jogging to turn and wait for her, one eyebrow raised high on his forehead as he did so. Hermione caught up easily at that, falling into step beside him moments later. "Well, that's better."

"A bit tired, Granger?"

She looked away from him. "I had a long day yesterday."

"Oh, I remember." She glared at the wall when he said this, knowing he was referring to when he made her a drink and dragged her down the stairs, after she alarmed her daughter. _Git_.

"I wanted to thank you for yesterday," she continued, having let silence sit between them for a moment. "After you shared your bit of information, you didn't really have to… help me."

"Granger, you didn't seem capable of helping yourself then, much less your daughter when she appeared. Look," he said, stopping in the hallway, and Hermione stopped as well, curious now what he was going to say. "I've gone through the cheating stage of marriage- granted, my circumstances were different, but nonetheless I've done it. It's quite an unpleasant realization, okay? You don't need to thank me for anything- I've been there, done that already. I just ensured that you didn't terrify your daughter any more than you already were."

"And you got me back downstairs," she reminded, smiling lightly at him, "You didn't have to do that. And you convinced me to take that dreadful potion so I could sleep."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, well, it wasn't going to do me any good today to leave you in a mess. We still have to work together and I didn't want my bleary-eyed partner showing up for work barely awake and possibly still crying."

To that, Hermione broke into a grin, ignoring half of his statement. "Did you just call me your partner?"

Cringing, the man shoved past her, continuing down the hallway. "Shut up, Granger."

And she followed behind him, grinning from ear to ear. His slip-up was endearing, even kind in a way. Maybe there was some honest kindness in him after all.

* * *

"So how did that letter really get into this office?" Hermione asked later, crossing her arms. For once she sat in the chairs directly on the opposite side of Draco's desk, instead of in the one across the room against the wall.

Looking up from the papers he was reading, the blonde's gaze narrowed. "Are we really going into this again? I've already told you Granger, I've never seen the bloody note before. I don't know where it came from, much less what it was doing in here."

"Yes but… if it wasn't something that you had, then that means that someone either left it inside one of your numerous folders and it accidently got in here, meaning that someone _else_ had possession of the note, or someone intentionally dropped it in here."

He sighed, setting aside what he was reading, knowing very well that he would need to focus on her now. "Out of this department Granger, only Nott has access to rooms that are not his. Advisors and the Minister himself obviously have the keys as well, but they rarely come down here, which again leaves us with Nott. Now if you haven't caught on by now, we can't tolerate each other. The last thing he would want to do is come into my office, and touch my things. He might be my boss, but I have more power outside of work. He knows that. There's a reason why we try not to fuck with each other, even if we can't stand one another."

She tapped her quill against her chin. "Unless he came down her simply to sabotage you."

"You're thinking too outside the box," he muttered. "Having a letter between Weasley and Brown would do what for the case exactly? Nothing! It connects Lavender into this mess, but that's all it ever really did, and she did that herself by announcing she's pregnant. If someone was trying to pin this murder case on me, then they would take different measures. It's probably something that accidently got stuck in my belongings, as you said."

"Yes, perhaps," she agreed, although she wasn't really convinced by anything he said. Something still seemed fishy about this, and she didn't like it.

"Can we focus on the case now? We need to make as many connections as possible so we can hopefully set up a better list of suspects."

"Very well. They both had words carved into them, but it was done by a… enchanted blade. Handwriting can't be traced."

"I know." He sat back in his chair, running long fingers through his hair. "They both knew you."

"Don't remind me," she replied quietly, looking down. That fact didn't sit well in her stomach.

"But it is something we must document," he reminded, scribbling something down on parchment. "Their jobs had no relation to each other."

"No."

"Do you know if they ever spent time together?"

"We all did on occasion," she said, focusing on a rather boring point on the wall. "It varied, but some of us would get together whenever we all had some free time and go out for a drink, for dinner, things like that. I wouldn't be surprised if they spent time together."

Draco didn't dare ask if she thought Chang perhaps slept with her husband. "So besides the same crews that you lot have been with since Hogwarts, did the two have any other similar friendships?"

Hermione shrugged. "From what I _knew_ of Ron's friendships, I could list them for days. Some of his hidden friendships though, I couldn't begin to tell you. I was never very close with Chang either. Occasionally we attended the same gatherings with friends, but I don't honestly know anyone she associated with often outside of my typical group. Sorry."

"Don't apologize," he said tiredly, rubbing his forehead. "We'll make enough connections somehow."

Nodding, she stayed silent. It wouldn't help to say something negative now.

They worked in silence for a bit, Hermione working through Chang's documented history while Draco looked over some of his notes. Ron's was already noted, something the blonde had done before she even joined the case. Scanning down the pages, she lifted her eyebrow at something.

"Chang dated Theo," she said, sounding a bit surprised by the information. Draco glanced up briefly, seeming less than interested.

"You never knew that? Odd. It happened once during school for an amazing four days, and sometime last year they dated briefly as well. I don't know why that would be documented though."

"It says that during the time she was with him last year she was often seen bruised. Did you ever notice that?"

"Granger, we've been over this. I'm no longer friends with Nott. I haven't been for a long time. The only reason I even know that she dated him is because Pansy told me. She loves to spend time around Nott. After dumping Blaise two years ago she's been all over the place. Probably spent some special time with Nott as well."

Hermione shivered at the implication, wondering how anyone could want to be with that man. He seemed so creepy and… well, creepy. She couldn't fathom being in the same room as him, let alone _kissing_ him. But maybe it was the rich thing that drove women to sleep with him. He didn't have dashing looks like Malfoy.

_Did I just think that? I must be more sleep deprived than I thought._

"I suppose it's not really a lead anyway," she muttered. "Even if Ron was a cheater, one thing I know for certain about him is that he was _straight_. He wouldn't have been involved with Nott."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, that's reassuring."

"Why, yes, I thought so anyway."

* * *

"Should I be concerned about not seeing you tomorrow?" he asked as they prepared to leave that night.

"Why would you be?"

"Well, considering last night Granger, I'm not entirely certain you will come back here if the hysterics happen again. Maybe you should… I don't know… go to Potter's or something. Is his wife okay with that?"

Hermione chuckled, patting the man on the shoulder. It was a brazen action, considering how little they touched. "Ginny isn't concerned at all when I spend time there Malfoy, but I'll be fine. I want to spend some serious time with my children tonight. I owe them- especially Rose- after yesterday."

"I suppose that's true. See you tomorrow Granger, bright and early."

Nodding, she hopped into the fireplace first. After what happened the last time she was alone in that office, she didn't want to tempt herself to snoop. Picking up the floo powder she disappeared quickly, arriving at her home seconds later.

Immediately, her semi-happy demure disappeared. Practically leaping from the fireplace, she spun in a circle and surveyed her home. The living room had been torn to shreds, and she thanked Merlin that she decided to stop by the house before picking up her children. At least she wouldn't have to scare them with this terrible scene.

Dashing away from the living room, she glanced through the rest of her home. The other rooms- especially her children's- hadn't been touched as much, thank Merlin, but it was still obvious that someone had been there. Her heartbeat accelerated as she got closer to her own bedroom, where the door stood open.

Inside, it was destroyed. The pristine memories, left there due to her pain were suddenly dashed away, the room no longer replicating how her husband would lead a day-to-day life. All his clothing that had been purposely left out was shredded, as though the intruder was searching for something within the linens. Stepping numbly into the room, she could feel her resolve breaking.

_Why would someone do this? Why can't they leave us be?_

Falling down on her knees, she caught site of the image on the window. For a brief moment she thought the message was written in blood, and she nearly screamed, until she rationally remembered that no one had been there during the day. Looking closer, she realized it had to be her lipstick. But that didn't change the messages meaning.

_You've been warned, Mudblood. _

Someone wanted to get their message across, though she couldn't fathom what exactly that message was. Someone spent the time to break down her wards, break into her house, destroy the rooms and her family's belongings, and leave a message in lipstick on her bedroom window. And for what? What could the purpose be?

Forcing herself to stand, she backed out of the room, wand out now. It was foolish to run around the place without carrying it in the first place, but she had been in shock. What if someone was still there though? She could've been hurt!

Returning to the floo system as quickly as she could, she grabbed a handful of powder and left for Harry's. There was no way she could stay there now. And besides, she would need to speak to him about her living arrangement.

And, she was going to need to speak to Malfoy as soon as possible. This just _had_ to be considered evidence.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you liked it! Leave a review to let me know what you're thinking!

Again, for anyone that is into forums, check out The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition! I'm actually in this forum. It's quite large, and we need a certain amount of members to start the competition! It's a team's thing, based off of Quidditch teams and the positions! Confused? Interested? Check it out! Once all positions are full the forum game will begin! You can even be on the team I'm on if you want, if you want to be captain :)

forum/The-Quidditch-League-Fanfiction-Competition/ 134505/


	10. Two Black Veils

**A/n: **Hope you enjoy! And I have a beta now :D Thanks to **MorbidKitten2**!

* * *

_But the women in the_

**Two Black Veils**

_Didn't bother to cry_

_Bye, bye, bye, bye_

"Are you sure you didn't touch _anything_?" he asked, surveying the scene at her side. Aurors were rushing around her home, documenting numerous things at once. After telling Harry about what happened he called the Aurors in, and Hermione found herself calling Malfoy. Maybe it was because she was his partner, and maybe not.

"I didn't move anything," she clarified, her voice void of emotion. She'd been a bit uneasy since discovering this earlier, and ever since people began wandering through her home to look over the evidence her paranoia only grew. Different reasons why her house was attached kept appearing in her mind, and how awful it would've been if her children were home, if any of them were home. The structure she was so comfortable in only hours ago now seemed unprotected and open, and Hermione was uncertain that she wanted her children to return until after the case was closed. Someone came there with intent to cause damage, and she didn't want the children around if that person returned. All her wards had been broken through, and that only showed intent to cause some major damage. And who knew, maybe the real intent was to harm the home's occupants, and that's why so much damage was done to begin with. Either way, she was just thankful no one had been there.

Draco glanced at her from his position against the wall, waiting for some overenthusiastic Aurors to quit beaming that they were in Granger's home and finish their search. He didn't really think they needed to be there at all since the danger seemed to have passed and this was all investigative work- _his_ investigation really- and couldn't wait for them to hit the road so he could do some proper snooping. Until then, he would stand back and hope nothing was too terribly ruined by the time he got to search her home. If any important evidence was destroyed there would be hell to pay later; he didn't like Aurors messing with his job.

"Are you sure you want to be here, Granger? You can just go back to Potter's, and I'll do the investigating part of this-"

"I want to be here," she interjected, cutting him off. She didn't want to leave a bunch of people in her house all alone. "I'll be fine."

She heard him sigh then, and glanced over to see the man rubbing his temples. "If you insist."

They stood there for a long time until the Aurors left. Draco was irritated by then to no end, and he wasn't in a great mood when one of the newer workers tried to hit on Hermione before leaving. Did he honestly think this was the time or place for such nonsense? Sometimes, the blonde couldn't understand the depth of people's stupidity. It amazed him.

"That took long enough," he said, immediately moving once the last Auror left. Considering that over half the people that came to this call were trainees who were just watching the "more experienced" Aurors, multiple things had been overlooked while preoccupied workers focused on training instead of doing any honest investigating. Hermione remained where she was, watching the blonde cast a spell that immediately lit up a green path, one which twisted all over the place, into different rooms and up the stairs.

"What's that?"

"It's supposed to show us where the intruder traveled and in what order he went, but unfortunately there have been so many people in here in the last few hours that the spell is confused. It's rather useless now." With a quick flick of his wrist the path disappeared and he pocketed his wand again. "I suppose we'll just have to do this the old fashioned way, with remedial spells."

And that's what they did. Splitting each and every room in half, they spread apart and searched everything, Hermione remaining perfectly silent the entire time. The only room she rightly refused to go into was her own, and she wouldn't tell him why. Without causing an argument, Draco went in and explored the room himself, deciding to save his questions about her behavior for a different day. She was stressed enough.

By the time they finished, it was nearly two in the morning and not an ounce of evidence had turned up. It bothered the woman that nothing could be found, and put her on edge that the intruder was able to cover their tracks so well. When they finished, she sighed and fell onto the couch in the living room, placing her head in her hands.

"With was a premeditated break-in," she muttered, keeping her eyes closed. "Everything is covered so well, the wards destroyed so perfectly, that it couldn't be random. Someone's been trying to get in here for a while, and now they have and we don't even know what they wanted. Aside from that note, there isn't an ounce of evidence. I'm not even sure if anything is missing!"

The couch dipped at her side, and she realized the blonde had sat down beside her. "Not yet anyway. You're still in shock Granger, and it's expected. Give yourself all of tomorrow to calm down and think things through. Your mind might register something out of place then, but for now it's no use worrying. You're too conflicted right now."

"Maybe," she said, taking her hands away. "I have to… gather some things. I don't trust this place now that someone has broken in, and I would never let my children back in here until I'm certain there's nothing left to threaten us. I know this has to do with the case Malfoy, it has to. I've lived here for years and yet nothing like this has happened, not until now. The person that broke in, it's probably the same person that murdered my husband- or at least, someone close to the murderer. I suppose I'll have to stay at Harry's now."

He gave her an odd look. "You're going to stay at Potter's?"

"Well of course," she said, shrugging as though it should be obvious. "Where else would I go?"

"You can come stay with me," he said offhandedly, causing her eyes to finally open. "For work purposes, it's more logical."

For several moments she just stared at him as though he had grown another head, apparently waiting for him to burst out laughing, declaring it to have been a joke. "You're serious about this?"

"Of course. I wouldn't offer if I wasn't. My point Granger is that although the Manor might not be anyone's favorite place it is warded and would provide a safer place for you to stay until after the killer is caught. Now before you go off on me I'm not saying that Potter's is entirely inadequate, just that if this person means to cause you harm he- or she- will continue to come after you, be it you personally or your children. Potter's wife might not work during the day, but it wouldn't mean that they're anymore safe over there than here. You don't want them getting hurt of course, and it would be safe if they hid behind the wards of my Manor. They're ancient, and practically impenetrable."

Hermione was still thrown by the entire offer. "And you're really serious?"

He groaned. "Must you keep asking that? Look, I don't want my partner dying during the middle of this case. You might freeze up at times when certain matters arise but at least you're not an incompetent fool like so many of the people that I've worked with prior. You have a head on your shoulders and thoughts in your mind and at this point I'd rather you not be killed, or attacked, or whatever."

Finally, she smiled a bit. He really could be nice when he chose to be. "That's sweet of you, but do you really want my children gallivanting around your home? Hugo is just a baby and needs constant care, and Rose is so adventurous-"

"I have a son that's her age Granger, if you've already forgotten," Malfoy reminded. "He gets so bored there at the Manor being alone all the time, and I think having a playmate might be good for him, and it might just keep him out of trouble some. As for someone to watch the baby there's yet another new nanny over there; with any luck, if Rose can keep Scorpius occupied he won't chase this one off too. There's no way I can send him off to his mother." Hermione didn't even question the last bit of that sentence, deciding to not delve into difficult topics at the moment.

Apparently, there were some benefits for the blonde as well if she stayed there. Their children could entertain each other, and he had a very good point about the wards strength as well as the ability to work on the case at any given time. Although she trusted Harry and Ginny to be adequate guardians when they needed to be, she didn't want to endanger the two and their family at this time, not when things were getting more and more complicated.

Maybe it was time she took a risk with this blonde man.

"Alright, I'll agree to that," she said, finally looking over at him. "But not tonight; it's so late, and I just really want to sleep. It's very unlikely that another attack will arise tonight, so tomorrow after work I'll talk to Harry and explain things then take myself and my children over to the Manor. You'll need to open you're floo up for me to enter through Harry's system."

Draco cringed at that idea, thinking it sounded awful, but held his tongue for the time being. If she was going to wait until after work tomorrow, then he would have the entire day to talk with her about that floo idea. "Very well, although I don't expect to be at work anytime early tomorrow after the night we've had. I'm not planning to arrive until noon."

"Sounds fair," she mused, leaning back against the sofa. "So I'll see you then?"

"Yes Granger, you will. Now go grab you're things; this place is unprotected now, and it would be quite foolish of me to leave you here all alone."

* * *

Hermione arrived at work the following day around eleven instead of noon. She supposed she wouldn't be able to enter the git's office until he arrived, but the fact of the matter was she couldn't sleep. After waking up and facing Ginny and Harry at the breakfast table after a few scarce hours of sleep, she had only been able to mutter that she needed to speak to them after work about something important before dashing away from the table. She wasn't going to lie; she knew the conversation would be bad.

After spending some much needed time with her children, she arrived at work early- or later, depending on how one looked at it- and tried to busy herself with downing a few cups of coffee and visiting some departments in the Ministry. Her mind was running rampod after last night, and she wanted nothing more than to distract herself. Now if only a distraction would arrive.

Eventually she gave up her wanderings and headed towards Malfoy's office, deciding she would rather lounge against the door until he arrived instead of passing by people who whispered behind her back. The news of the break-in at her house had already made headlines by morning, and she was doing her best to ignore the questions and stares sent her way; she wanted nothing to do with them.

Turning the corner to the hallway that led to his office, she stopped cold. Down the hall, leaning against the very door she was planning to occupy, sat Brown, looking very uncomfortable. Hermione couldn't believe her bad luck.

_Can't catch a break, can I? _Turning quickly on her heel she made to leave the premises before Lavender spotted her but it was too late, and she cringed at what she heard next.

"Hermione! There you are- I've been waiting ages for you." She was tempted to run away as she heard Brown get up in the empty hallway and make her way over to her, but Hermione wasn't the time to leave a fight. And she knew that a confrontation with Lavender couldn't end up as anything else but a fight. "Late to work this morning I see."

"It's purposeful," she spat, refusing to turn and acknowledge Brown. "After the events at my house last night, Malfoy and I both agreed that we should take the morning off and come in at noon. I came in early to do some paperwork."

"Splendid," the woman replied, appearing to try and sound cheerful, but her tone was bleak and lifeless. Lavender sounded anything but joyful in that moment. "Perhaps we can go into the office then and talk-"

"I'd rather speak out here," Hermione said abruptly, knowing she didn't actually have a key. "I don't want to have to speak to you for long, if you understand my meaning. Unsurprisingly Brown, you're not someone I really want to speak to."

"I suppose not," she said quietly, her bleak tone getting softer. "I don't really want to speak to you either Hermione, not after everything. But we can't… we can't avoid the truth forever."

"I don't know about you Brown, but I was doing a pretty good job of avoiding things with you until this moment," she snapped. Turning around finally, she placed her hands on her hips and made to say something more, when her eyes took in the whole of Lavender and she found her voice got caught in her throat.

Lavender looked slightly heavier than previously, and vaguely Hermione recalled Draco telling her that the woman had been using a concealment charm to hide her supposed baby bump. Today apparently using a spell didn't suit her fancy, for although the bump wasn't exceptionally large yet, it was very obvious. Seeing that caused the brunette to stop in her tracks, finding herself at a loss of words.

Why? Why did Lavender have to show up like this today, after she'd already had a stressful and eventful night? Couldn't the bloody universe give her a break for a few minutes!?

"I wanted to talk about this," she said, resting her hands on her stomach, her cheeks turning slightly red. "I thought it was time we stop dancing around the topic, especially since the child is just going to keep growing each day."

"And you think this is an appropriate topic right now?!"

"I don't think it'll ever be appropriate, not with circumstances being as they are," she replied, rubbing the back of her head. "But I did want to talk. After speaking with Malfoy- something he probably already spoke with you about- I did a lot of thinking. I posted that initial article in the paper, got it published and all so that when the baby is born I can have some child support. I don't make a lot of money, and I might need some help in the beginning."

"I don't care," Hermione replied bitterly, crossing her arms. "This is something the two of you did behind my back, something that was conceived during an apparently fake marriage, and whether or not you receive the support isn't really my problem right now. I have bigger things to worry about than the drama you cause at this point Lavender, like the safety of my children. Have you even read today's paper yet? My home was broken into and vandalized last night, and note left written in the bedroom I once shared with Ron. So pardon me that I am not overly concerned about the problems you're causing me Brown, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. You chose to lie down and create the child, so stand up and support it. Get a real job perhaps, and stop living off your parents."

Her cheeks flushed red. "I'm trying to be civil Hermione! I want to make amends."

"Amends?!" Her eyes flashed. "You think there's anything you can do to make amends with this?! You helped my husband cheat Lavender; there's nothing you can do to right that wrong! I don't care if you say you loved him, because I loved him too. And he declared his love for me, he promised it in front of a crowd of three-hundred, promising to never betray me or love another." She attempted to laugh, but it sounded strained and forced. "There's nothing civil about this! You're the only person left that I can be angry at!"

"That's not true-"

"Isn't it though Lavender? Isn't it? I don't have a husband to be mad at! I don't get to file a divorce and battle with him for the children and do things like a normal, broken couple would! Instead of getting to be mad, instead of being able to get even with him for what he's done to me, I had to bury him!" She glanced away, feeling the emotions swirling inside of her. She didn't want to be having this conversation now, or ever. "I buried him. I miss him. I loved him. And in return I don't know if his love for me was sincere or fractured. I don't get to know the truth! I don't get to go out and date other people and make myself feel better because it would make me feel worse! He was my husband Lavender- he was _mine_- or at least, I believed so. Apparently, he was mine, and yours, and Merlin knows who else's. Don't ever tell me something isn't true Lavender, because this ordeal is harder for me than you! I have to unravel my husband's secrets _after_ his death to even ever know what kind of person he truly was!"

Hermione finished, breathing hard, and the other woman looked on at her with sad eyes. She didn't necessarily think that everything Hermione said was true, but she wasn't going to protest just then. Looking into the brunette's broken eyes, she could see the hurt. Before Ron died, before things started slamming together, Hermione thought her life was perfect. To see the cracks within perfection now obviously hurt her deeply, and she wasn't accepting of the truth. Part of Lavender understood that, for who wanted to accept that their husband wasn't faithful. But as Hermione said, she loved Ron too, and couldn't completely feel bad for the girl.

"Neither of us can be entirely sure who he really was," she reasoned, ignoring the pang in her chest as she spoke. "He might've cheated on you with me, but to me he only ever wanted physical contact and then he would leave. There was no love there. I might've loved him, but I don't think we had the same intentions."

"It doesn't matter," she snapped, turning away again. "You knew we were married- everyone knew, and you still slept with him. Whether you loved him or not is obsolete. You slept with a married man Lavender, and that will continue to keep the public from leaning in your favor."

"I just wanted his affections! I wanted someone to really love me!"

"So you chose someone already in a supposedly committed relationship? It didn't occur to you to go after a _single_ man?! He couldn't love you when he was already involved!"

Lavender crossed her arms behind Hermione's back, taking a breath. To be honest, she was surprised that she hadn't been hexed by the livid woman yet. "He loved you Hermione, there's no denying that. Anyone could see that. My past relationships weren't the best, from Dean to Theo to-"

"You dated Theodore Nott?" she asked, suddenly interested in their conversation. That was an interesting tidbit.

"Yes," Brown replied, uncertain why she cared, "He was the last person I dated before getting with Ron. We broke up, and I suppose he thought I would hang around and wait for him to take me and use me again, but I didn't. I picked myself up and got attached to someone else. He wasn't very fond of that and sent me some threatening notes to begin with, but now he doesn't bother me."

Whirling around, Hermione eyes flashed. "_Notes?_ What kind of notes?!"

"Your typical jealous ex type of notes," she replied, uncertain why this was so interesting. "Why do you care?"

"Were they ever on blue paper?" she asked stiffly, and Lavender eyes flashed this time.

"Rarely, but yes, sometimes they were. Is this about that note that Malfoy showed me that you read? Hermione-"

"It might be," she cut in, the gears in her mind working fast. "And Nott was really the last person you were with before Ron?"

"Yes! Goodness, do I have to keep repeating myself? Ron told me a few weeks before he died that he couldn't stay with me anymore, that he needed to stop this. I always assumed he was finally trying to be loyal to you, but he always refused to answer. I never got a true answer out of him before he was killed. I'm still not too sure about the actual reasoning. After that, if you must continue to pick through my love life, I attempted to get with Neville, but he was mortified by the very thought. He's too loyal to Luna."

Distantly, Hermione recalled seeing Lavender snuggling up with a terrified Neville some weeks earlier. So he had denied her, like the good man he is. Her heart broke a bit, thinking that Ron hadn't been the same type of person. But her thoughts were scattered, not only emotionally but also with the snippets of information that Lavender was feeding her Until now this information probably seemed useless, but listening to her list things off things were slowly falling into place.

Nott had blue paper. He made a comment about the note that struck her.

He dated Lavender, and then got vengeful when she left him for someone else, and around the same time Ron died. He would've had a motive to kill… right?

And on top of those tidbits of information, Hermione herself got a strange feeling whenever the man was nearby. Draco didn't like him, and she wasn't particularly fond of him either. With the story Lavender was spinning, she didn't suppose it was likely that she would grow to like him more either.

"Did Nott ever do anything else?" she asked, her interest continuing to grow as her anger began to simmer down. The possibility of a lead was overlooking the fact that she was angry.

"Not really. After a while he stopped contacting me completely. Oh! The day Ron was buried, he sent me a rose."

Her eyebrows rose at that, thinking that Lavender had to be utterly daft to not realize something was up with this. She didn't have time though to concern herself with how stupid this woman now appeared to be, not with her mind working a mile a minute. "Lavender, I must go," she said quickly, shoving past her. "There's something I need to handle."

"What? But we're handling-"

"It's more important than some lame drama!" At that moment, Draco turned the corner to the hallway, giving both women an odd look as he approached. With her head bursting with thoughts however, the woman was impatient, and met her partner halfway.

"Granger-"

"I have a lead," she said, interrupting him as his eyebrows shot up, "And you're not going to like it."

* * *

**A/n:** New chapter up! Thoughts? Let me know! We're getting places people :D


	11. Threw a Handful of Dirt

**A/n**: I love this chapter, hope you do too! Thanks to my new beta **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

* * *

_Yeah they took turns laying a rose down/_

**Threw a Handful of Dirt**

_Into the deep ground/_

"I understand that you feel strongly about this lead Granger, I really do, but the fact of the matter is that Nott is my boss, and I can't just go upstairs and announce that I believe he's the killer."

"You don't," she pointed out, sitting in his office now. Lavender had gone home a few minutes ago, after Hermione told her that she thought she had a lead. Excited at the prospect of knowing who had killed Ron, she had disappeared without an ounce of difficulty. "I'm the one that believes it's him. You think I'm completely crazy."

"Look, I hear you out, alright? And even though I don't really like Theo, that doesn't mean that I'm just going to pinpoint him as a killer out of the blue and question him. He could fire me for questions like that and then we would really be off the case."

"But you have to question potential suspects!" she reasoned, banging her hand on the desk. Here she was certain that she had a lead, and all Malfoy could do was shoot the possibility down. "We have evidence, and we can even get Lavender to testify on the matter!"

"Oh yeah? And what exactly are we going to say Granger?"

"What we know," she said, resting her hands on the desk. "He dated Lavender, and then he started sending her threatening mail right around the time that my husband was killed. He was the last person she was with before Ron. He sent her notes, notes on _blue_ paper, _and_ he commented about the note that I found, even though he's never seen it! Lavender even said that Ron was acting strange a few weeks before he died! She said he was trying to break it off with her, but that he wouldn't give a reason why." She chewed her lip before saying the next part. "He wouldn't even say it was because he wanted to be loyal to me, from what she said. He wouldn't give a clear answer and we don't have one now!"

Draco rubbed his temples as he spoke, giving them both a moment of silence after her speech before saying anything. "I'll admit it is something we _should_ look into. But there's a lot of loose ends. Does Nott have an alibi for the night of the killing? Would he also be responsible for Chang's death?"

"Cho was really good friends with Lavender, and if he really wanted to get back at her then he would kill her too."

"But why?" he countered, tapping a quill he had picked up on his desk. "What's the motive there? She's not bisexual; she wouldn't have a relationship with the girl. Would it have been done to harm her mentally, or to have leverage over Lavender for persuasion to get her to come back to him, if any of this is actually true. He killed your husband for revenge on her, or to get her to come back?" He moved to rub his temples again. "There are so many complications here, so many loose ends, that I don't even know if I want to question him. He has a lot of power and could fire me on spot. Of course, that might just prove that we are actually onto him and really concern him, but give us proof."

"Ha! See, you're starting to think of situations and reasons about why he did this too! If he fires you that just means he's scared that you're onto him; if he just yells, that could be an indicator that we're on the wrong track."

"Or that he's lying," the blonde pointed out, thinking like a detective. "Alright, let's say for a moment that you're right, that Nott is the killer. What do we do? We can't just question him like this, not with all the gaps Granger. We need to fill in more of the holes before I even attempt to bring this up."

"I know," she sighed, resting her head on her hand. "There has to be a connection though!"

"If you've found your criminal Granger, there's always a way to connect the dots. Right now we are missing too many dots though. If we were muggles, we could look for the murder weapon-"

"You know what muggles do when investigating?" she asked, smiling. The fact that he knew anything remotely correct about muggles astounded her.

"Yes," he said, steering them back on track. He was not going to go into his knowledge of muggles at this moment. "However, a blade of some sort was used during the killings as well in this case. Enchanted or not, it could be a clue. The only problem is wizards can spell the blades to not have a trace of blood or DNA left on them, and can keep the murder weapons in their own home. Until we know what kind of blade was used we can't even begin to narrow down the results of that."

"True, but we have more than just a weapon to look for. There's alibi's that would need to be found for him for both nights of the deaths, the notes that he shared between himself and Lavender-"

"Any notes that he may have sent to your husband," the blonde interjected, watching her face fall a degree. "If he's the reason Weasley is dead, then he had to contact him somehow. That would explain why he told Brown he couldn't stay with her without a reason, yes?"

"If it's true," she said, the gears in her mind turning. "Perhaps that's what the intruder at my home was looking for."

"Beg pardon?"

"Whoever broke in came with the intent of finding something. If Nott broke in, he might be looking for the supposed notes, or whatever else he may have used to contact Ron. The bedroom… well, I think it was trashed the most. Obviously the intruder was very inept on finding something, right? And now we can speculate what that might be. Maybe we should go investigate there today."

"You won't even enter the bedroom," he reminded, recalling how hard she worked to stay out of there, both after her home was broken into and when he tried to get her to go to sleep the night he reported that Brown honestly was pregnant. "Do you think investigating there is going to do any good?"

"You could look through there," she said, her voice growing quieter as she spoke. His eyes narrowed, and he tried to look into hers, but she kept avoiding his gaze. He very well knew that she didn't like that idea.

"It happened this morning Granger. There are other places we can go before returning there. And I know it's not on the top of your list, but at some point we- or at least _I-_ will have to go back down into the basement and look around again."

Hermione cringed, staring at the floor. The basement, where Ron had been found dead. She shut that place off from her home, literally hiding the door with a decorative cabinet. Since the moment Ron died, she hadn't gone down there. It was hard enough to ignore the house, ignore the fact that her husband perished there, but she tried to for her children. They were too young to understand, after all.

Maybe moving in with Malfoy for a bit wasn't so bad. She could get away from that awful, awful place for a bit. Maybe she would sleep peacefully for a night.

"I don't know if I will go down with you," she said honestly, not looking up. "Perhaps someone else in this department can go with you."

"I never really expected that you would, Granger. No one would want to face those memories again. But right now I think we should go investigate a different place, somewhere that isn't your home."

"Hmm?"

"Chang's. If you're up to it, I think we should go there and do some investigating."

"What will we be searching for?"

"Anything. Like I said, there's lots of loose ends. Any notes, anything that can be taken and documented or sent to be looked up should be taken. I figure we aren't getting much done by sitting in the office and pondering things. If we really want to figure out whether or not Theo is a murderer, we have to go and search for evidence. I can send for some alibi's tonight once we head for the Manor."

"Maybe she has some unknown notes or something," Hermione muttered, standing at the same time he did. "Well, I suppose it's better than my basement."

"Exactly," Draco replied, studying her. She thought he seemed hesitant. "If you really don't want to go and look at any of the major evidence again Granger, then you're more than welcome to stay here and look through the files-"

"I'm coming," she interrupted, crossing her arms. "There isn't a body there anymore Malfoy, and I think I can handle it this time. I'll try to handle anything at this point, just so long as I can prove to you that Nott is the killer. I'm certain."

"If you say so," he replied, watching her turn and collect her things. Watching her, he felt extremely uncomfortable. No matter what she said, he knew the locations bothered her, and despite everything, he was growing fond of his new temporary partner. He didn't quite want to terrify her.

But that's what he was afraid would happen if he took her everywhere. He just wasn't sure how much of it she could take, not when it was directly related to her.

_Don't push yourself too far Granger. I don't want you panicking on me again._

* * *

If nothing else, the lighting at Chang's still worked. Though it was the middle of the day it was cloudy outside, and it appeared as though it would rain. Hermione had mistaken the location of Chang's death for her actual home, and realized now that the two places were not connected whatsoever.

Chang was killed in an abandoned house on a muggle street. She lived in an apartment in the middle of magical London. The two places didn't seem related at all.

"I wonder what she was doing in that neighborhood when she died," the woman said as she searched the living room, calling out to Draco. "She doesn't live anywhere near there."

"It might be something important to figure out!" he called back, searching through an office space in the next room. "Perhaps she was running away from her killer."

"Don't you think that if she wanted to avoid dying, she would've been out in the open on the street and not in an abandoned house like that? It doesn't make any sense!"

"Well, then I suppose we should add the murder scene to our list of places to check out," he replied, opening a set of drawers. "Maybe the killer dropped something."

"Or left a fingerprint?" she asked, though she knew it was stupid to say. The place had already been swept for fingerprints and dropped items. There were lots of random things scattered throughout the rooms from what she remembered of the place, and wondered if something had been strategically tossed within the piles of rubbish. That was probably yet another silly idea.

"We already know there aren't any of those!"

"I know," she relented, getting on her hands and knees she peered under the sofa, her wand illuminating the space. There was an old playing card under there, loose change, and a slip of paper. Curiously, she took the paper and pulled it out, sitting on the couch.

It was only part of a note, with the better half missing. This appeared to be the end of a conversation, something that had been torn apart, the other half lost Merlin knew where. She read through the smudged ink, deciding that it had either been folded or torn before the ink could dry:

_-insufferable! I could never live my life like that. Come on now, you're better than this. Tell her the truth. I know you weren't friends in school, but you should speak with her. If you really love him, then tell him to leave his family and be with you. And you can't be the other woman forever, you know that right? You're just going to end up really hurt in the end, and everyone else is going to be hurt with you._

_And this time, don't lose the note! Last time I got a weird response about our conversation and I knew it wasn't you. We don't want to be blackmailed any more than we already have been._

It wasn't signed, but she realized that had to be the end of it. Odd really, for the conversation sounded like one she may have had with Lavender. The situation sounded right to be about Lavender (the receiver of the note), Ron (the assumed man that was being spoken of) and his family (Hermione and the children). It made sense, but for the time being she didn't want to jump to any conclusions. Cursing herself that he had already touched the note and soiled it with additional fingerprints, she dropped it into the evidence bag Draco had provided and continued searching, hoping to find something else useful along the way- like maybe the other half of the note. Yes, that would be lovely. She could talk with Malfoy about the note later.

With nothing else interesting turning up in the living room and the office space ending up being useless, they moved onto the bathroom- which took Hermione no time at all to search through- and finally the bedroom, that turned up several interesting things.

To start with, they were both staring into a drawer, exchanging glances between each other. "I suppose no one has come here and investigated yet."

"Apparently not," he said, enlarging his bag to fit the abundance of clothing. "I wonder how long that went on."

"Who knows. Would the autopsy guy be able to determine that?"

"No, this will go to the forensic scientist, though he does more with magical forensics than anything. Physical things are hard for him to work with sometimes, but he's going to have to deal. His name is Tony, and we're going to be dropping all of our things off to him."

"He's going to have a lot then," she said, making a face as he finished levitating all the clothing into the bag. The drawer had contained countless amounts of random clothing, all stained in dried blood. Now that the drawer was empty, the could see where the blood had stained the white paint as well. "Do we take that as well?"

"Take a picture, we'll return if it's needed. But it's only the object that held the items," he replied, shrinking the bag again. "Hopefully your husband didn't have a drawer like this?"

"Not that I know of," she replied, looking horrified at the idea. "I haven't honestly really touched any of his things since he died, but I always used to put his clothes away when I did the laundry. I would've seen something like this if it existed."

"Well, we can cross of similarities between the two then," he said turning to search a bookshelf. "The two murders aren't exactly alike."

"No, they have their differences," Hermione agreed, turning to face the closet. She was a bit apprehensive now to look through clothing after finding the odd pile of blood-coated ones in the bottom of Chang's dresser, but knew she couldn't stop searching now. Opening it, she quickly discovered that there was nothing interesting in there at all except some overly-revealing club wear outfits at the back.

"Look at this," he said, drawing her attention. Turning around, she found that he was levitating a blade by his head, the handle stained in blood as well. Her eyes widened a hair.

"You don't think the killer would've left that, do you?"

"I don't even know what this would've been used for, but considering that drawer of bloody clothing, I don't want to start making guesses. We'll take it along and have Tony check that out as well."

Agreeing, she turned back and continued her search. It wasn't long before they were finished, and nothing more had turned up.

"I suppose we shouldn't let the Aurors do any investigating," she said as they exited the apartment. "They tend to miss a lot, don't they?"

"At the other locations, yes. I've done a scarce bit of searching at the others, but I can guarantee we'll turn up lots of things that they overlooked. Tomorrow I'm thinking that we should take a trip back to the abandoned house."

Hermione nodded, not letting any of her hesitation show. Today they found things that could make some honest progress in the case, and if braving her fears put her closer to finding her husband's killer, then she would continue to do so without any hesitation. Avenging him was more important to her than anything.

The two left the apartment, preparing to apparate once outside. Yet neither of them noticed the heavy breathing just a few doors down, too caught up in their conversation. They didn't look back over their shoulders as they entered the elevator, missing the grinning face of a madman as he pulled the invisibility cloak off of himself.

They never even knew they were being watched by the same man they were trying to catch.

* * *

"Tony might have something for us in the morning," Draco said as they packed up for the day. "He said it'll depend on whether or not any of the evidence was cloaked to be overlooked or tampered with in any way by magic."

"I hope it doesn't take too long," she agreed, wandering towards the fireplace. "You still have to open up your floo for me to come over from Harry's."

"Yes well," he said, looking away, "Just don't expect me to leave that connection open. As soon as you come through tonight I'm blocking it to keep those pesky Potter's out."

Hermione shook her head, always slightly bemused by how Draco took things. "Very well, but remember it might take me a bit. I do have to explain things to my best friends after all."

"Just use small words," he said, waving a hand. "If you use anything over seven letters he might get lost."

She smacked him playfully. "Shut up!" Stepping up to the fireplace, she grabbed a handful of floo powder. "I'll have to make two trips; Hugo is so young that I don't dare floo with anything but him."

"Very well."

"And thank you," she said, catching him off guard. He was about to ask why she said that, but the girl called out her destination before he got the chance. Smirking after she left, he shook his head.

_Clever witch indeed. _

* * *

"It's not as bad as you think," she reasoned, crossing her arms defensively. "It actually makes sense!"

"Staying at Malfoy's makes sense?!" Harry asked, appalled. Ginny sat at the table between them, quite content to watch the two argue and keep her comments until the end.

"I know you don't like the idea Harry, and truth be told I was skeptical myself at first, but it really does make sense. Harry, we might have a lead on the case! If I'm at Malfoy's then we'll be able to work on the case at all hours-"

"And that makes you happy?"

"Finding the killer of my_ husband_ makes me happy," she spat, and his ears tinged red at that. She did have a point. "I know you don't agree, but this does make sense. "His wards are ancient, and can't be broken through. Even the war couldn't do that. After what happened at my house I'm a bit apprehensive staying anywhere, but he made that point and it made me feel a bit better."

"It's safe here too," Harry argued, irritated that she couldn't see that. "I would never let anything happen to you, your children or mine, or Ginny. We're all safe here."

She smiled softly. "That's one of the main reasons I don't want to stay here and burden you Harry; just listen to that list! I might be able to defend myself, but Ginny is still recovering from having Lily and the children are only going to add stress. I know you don't like it Harry and I never expected you to, but please try to understand my side of things. This does make sense."

"But why would you want to spend more time with that prat? Isn't work-"

"He's not that bad," she argued, defending her partner. "He's grown up Harry, and if you two didn't despise each other so much maybe you could see that. He isn't mean to me about the case; he's considerate actually. And besides, I feel more confident talking about the case outside the office as it is. At the office, I feel like I'm always being listened to."

Harry frowned, not liking that answer. "Do you think there are cameras or something?"

"Perhaps," she replied, shrugging. "That's not my point though. I want to be able to do as much for the case as possible, and this would be the best way."

"But is it the smartest way? Do you really trust him?"

"Yes," she replied surprised by how certain she sounded. "I do trust him. He has a son Harry, and I've seen them interact. He really loves the kid, and he would keep Rose entertained. I wouldn't be doing anything bad for my children." Turning her attention away from the stubborn man, she looked at Ginny. "Help me out here! You out of everyone have to understand why I need to figure out the killer's identity as fast as possible."

Ginny sighed, standing from her seat. Even the mere mention of Ron's death seemed to bring her mood down. "Despite how good it might be for the case Hermione, I can't fathom why you want to spend time at the Manor after what happened. I think it's going to bring back a lot of bad memories."

"My house can do that for me," she muttered, looking away.

"That being said," the ginger continued, "It's not my place to speak out against it. You're doing this for a reason, for both the safety of your family and for the case you're working on. I may not like it, but I'm not so narrow-minded that I can't see your cause."

Hermione's head shot up, a smile pulling at her lips. Was Ginny honestly defending her?

"Gin, are you-" Harry started, but was cut off as his wife whirled around, pointing a manicured finger at him.

"And you! Just because you've had your spats and battles with Malfoy doesn't mean that he can't change! Everyone is a different person than the person they entered the battle as Harry, and out of everyone _you_ should understand that. Hermione is anything but a fool, and I trust her judgment on this matter. If she thought there was anything sketchy at all about this situation, we both know she wouldn't go. You're just too repulsed by the idea of it being Malfoy's house that you can't even see the benefits of her being there."

He looked at his wife, then Hermione, and then Ginny once more, a bit at a loss for words. He didn't really liked being ganged up on by tow sharp-tongued women. When she realized he wasn't going to respond, Ginny returned her attention to Hermione.

"Get out of here. We all know you want to go and work on that case." She waggled her eyebrows while she was turned away from Harry, hinting at something else as well. "Everything's packed, so get going before Harry finds something to say."

Grinning at her friend, she bolted towards the fireplace. She couldn't wait to start working on the case again.

Thank Merlin Ginny interjected, or she wasn't sure how long that would've taken.

* * *

**A/n: **Let me know what you think darlings!

Also, my first post for "The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition" is up under the title "Shadowed Happiness." It's a lower rating and not Dramione, but if you want to read something different from me check it out! It's a Cho/Cedric friendship story.

You can also check out my new Dramione story "Where are Your Parents?"


	12. A Secret to Hide

**A/n:** This chapter incorporates a lot of Hermione/Draco/the children interactions and some slight romance (gasp!) So hopefully you guys will enjoy! Thanks to my beta **Morbidkitten2**! **not yet edited.

* * *

_He's not the only one who had_

**A Secret to Hide**

_Bye, bye, bye_

_Yeah, yeah_

"He's nice?" her daughter asked as they stepped from the floo. Hermione took her son through first so she could bring the baggage along with her daughter.

"Well, he's not bad," she joked, eyeing the two blonde Malfoy's as they stepped from the floo, her son sitting on the man's lap where she'd left him. "You know, for a git."

Rose smiled at Hermione's joke, used to hearing the word from her mother whenever she referred to Uncle Harry. If she referred to Draco like she did Harry, then he couldn't be too bad, right?

"I'm not a git," he argued, handing the infant back to Hermione once she was in arm's reach. Scorpius remained silent at his father's side, brooding on the couch. But the adult man didn't take kindly to his son's attitude. "Say hello, Scorpius."

The child turned his nose up, and Rose's smile disappeared at the action. Didn't he want to be her friend?

"Scorpius," the father scolded, standing beside Hermione, "Don't be rude young man; they are guests in our home."

Turning to face the newcomers, he immediately recognized Hermione from his father's office. "Say, she's the M-"

"Enough!" Draco snapped, cutting his son off before he could even mutter the word. Rose looked between the two men in confusion. "That's not how you say hello."

He dropped his head. "Hello," he muttered, looking at the floor as his father rolled his eyes.

"Well, I suppose that's better than nothing." Turning his attention to his partner, he blocked the children out. "It's going to take some time for him to adapt to this situation apparently."

"I didn't expect anything else," she replied, giving him a faint smile. After her first encounter with his son, she didn't expect him to be overly inviting about having a bunch of "Mudbloods" or "Half-bloods" wandering through his home. "Give it some time; he'll warm up to the idea."

"Hopefully," he replied, turning to face Rose now as his face broke into a smile. "And who's this?"

"I'm Rose," she said proudly, smiling up at him before she peered between the two adults, placing a hand to her chin. "Is this our replacement daddy?"

Hermione's cheeks colored. "What?! No! This is Malfoy- uh, Draco. You'll call him Draco honey, but he isn't daddy."

"Well daddy doesn't want to come around anymore," she pouted, crossing her arms. "And you called him a git like you used to call daddy-"

"He's _not_ daddy!" she snapped, and the blonde glanced her way when he heard the unusual amount of emotion in her voice. "Call him Draco; not daddy."

Her daughter pouted. "Fine."

To this neither Malfoy had anything to say, and Draco made a mental note to taunt Hermione later for using his real name. Deciding to break the uncomfortable air that was setting in, he cleared his throat. "Why don't I show you where you're staying Gra-"

"Hermione," she corrected quickly, smiling at him. "It's Hermione, remember?"

_Crazy witch thinks I know things that we haven't even discussed! _"Right well, Hermione, why don't I show all of you where you'll be sleeping?" he said, eyeing her oddly. She just nudged him lightly, indicating that she was in no mood to answer whatever questions he had- which was fine; he'd bother her later.

Scorpius walked side by side with his father, and Rose trailed behind the two boys with Hermione and Hugo in the back. The woman was irritated with the blonde man in front of her because he was currently carrying all of her shrunken luggage, something she could've easily done. It wasn't long before he stopped in front of a door.

"This is your room," he said, smiling down at the girl. Rose seemed excited by the large place to begin with, and began jumping up and down when he mentioned that this one was hers.

"Is it pink?"

Draco's face blanched. "Erm, not exactly." Before she could ask again about the color scheme, and opened the door and switched on some lights, beckoning for her to step inside. Scorpius did so first with Rose hot on his heels.

"My rooms bigger than this," he boasted immediately as they stepped into the room, the adults following behind. "It's right next door, through that door there."

Rose made a face at that, completely ignoring the first half of what he said. "I have to share a room with a boy?"

"No! We don't have the same room!" He pointed a finger at the door he was apparently discussing. "We just share that door!"

"Oh," the girl said, sounding relieved at that. Surveying the room once, she turned back to Draco. "It's so big! But why is it green? I like pink."

"Well, I'll have to get you something pink then, Rose. Pink isn't something I have on hand."

She girl nodded, apparently pleased with his answer. The room was far too large for such a small child, and Hermione could see half her upper level fitting into this single room. Why ever a four year-old girl needed something this large escaped her, but she decided to not question it.

"Is this your room too, mommy?"

"Your mother's going to sleep across the hall," Draco said, interrupting before she could get a word in. "She'll be right nearby if you need anything, and so will Scorpius."

"Don't need anything from me," the boy interjected, looking at Rose. "I don't like having to wake up early, or late. Only see me if it's sunny."

The girl nodded. "That's when I like being awake too."

Draco and Hermione exchanged a glance, grinning slightly at one another.

"I'm going to show you're mother and brother their rooms, okay? Why don't you stay here and put some of your things away. Scorpius can keep you company."

"I don't want to stay in a pink room!"

His father suppressed a grin. "Son, there's nothing pink in here yet."

"Fine," he pouted, wandering to the nearest couch and sitting down. Draco handed the little girl her things before turning back to Hermione, a mischievous grin on his face. "Ready?"

"I suppose," she said, kissing her daughter goodnight before she moved on anywhere. "I'll come back in to check on you before bed."

"Okay mom," she said, already pulling things out of her bag to show Scorpius, who in return frowned at everything girly. Deciding that the two were alright for now, the adults disappeared.

"You do realize the three of us would be perfectly comfortable in that one room, right?"

"Yes, but then it's a hotel room, and not a personal room," he reminded, turning to the door immediately across the hall. "And you're staying here for Merlin's sake Granger! We could each have our own sections of rooms if we liked; I figured a room a piece was suitable at least."

She smiled as he opened the door. "It's Hermione, remember? The children might take the situation better if we're on a first name basis."

"You think it matters? They're four and five- and a half!" He pointed to her son as he led her into the room.

"Hugo isn't a 'half', Draco, he's a year."

"Fine, so he's one. My point is Gr-Hermione, is that he certainly won't notice the difference."

"Don't be so defensive," she said, moving into the room. "It's just a slight…"

Her voice trailed off as she gazed at the room. Somehow, it was even larger than her daughters. There was an entire sitting area, partial library, bed and numerous other things decorating the space. Unlike her daughter's green room, this one was cream with accents of- Merlin forbid- blue, and not a particularly dark blue either.

She looked around the entire space, doing a complete circle to take in her surroundings as Draco lounged against the wall. "It's… lovely."

"Now don't you like this better than the green room?" he mocked, grinning when she looked over at him. "That was one of my rooms when I was a child; the colors were of my choosing when I was eleven."

"That explains it," she said, still looking over the space. "And you've given it to your son now?"

"It's a set of rooms my son has. He was a bit upset when I told him that someone- a girl no less- was taking over one of his many rooms. He actually had to move things out of there and all for your daughter. That's probably why he's so terrified of the idea of pink in there."

She smiled. "So those were your rooms as a child I suppose… and these rooms on this side of the hall were your parents?"

"Merlin no!" he said, shaking his head at the very idea. "For years I had my own personal _wing_ away from my parents, and they had one each as well. This entire section of the Manor used to be just mine."

"Why don't you live like that now with your son then?" she asked, honest curiosity pulling at her. He seemed to notice this, and beckoned for her to take a seat on the lavish couch where she rested her son on a cushion.

"I grew up a spoiled brat G-Hermione," he said, correcting himself this time. "I had a few, selfish friends like me and more possessions then I could handle. But I was a lonely child, separated from my family pretty much all the time except mealtimes. Blaise and Pansy and the others could only come around so much, and I spent a lot of time alone in my rooms, searching for things to do. It was incredibly lonely, and I didn't want my son to grow up feeling the same separation from his family."

"That's kind of you."

"Well, you'd like to think so," he muttered. "Another reason is that parts of the Manor are still in pretty horrible condition. I haven't had a lot restored since the war, and two of the wings are completely uninhabitable at the moment. Those are the main places Voldemort resided; the places tainted with the most darkness. Part of my doesn't even want to restore those places. Besides, two of the wings have been fixed up, and this place is certainly large enough in its condition to house two people."

Hermione smiled lightly, placing a hand over the blonde's. "Well, it's nice of you to think of your son like that. I couldn't imagine having such a lonely childhood. Even before Hogwarts I had neighborhood friends."

"Sounds lovely," he said, wondering what that would be like. Shaking his head to make sure he didn't trail off too much, he stood and extended a hand to her. "I should probably show you his room I suppose." He inclined his head towards Hugo.

"He can't sleep in here in a crib?" she asked, immediately sounding lost. He frowned at the very idea as though it was offensive.

"Nonsense! Besides, it's just next door. Now come on!" Tired of waiting for her to stand, he scooped the infant up in his arms much to her surprise and snatched one of her hands, pulling her towards a door on the left side of the room, one that looked very familiar to the connecting door just across the hall between Rose and Scorpius' rooms.

"I thought this would be more appropriate," he said, opening the door as he pulled her inside. Again, her eyes bulged at how large the space was. It was obviously set up to be a nursery, what with the childish decorations and the crib. Immediately after circling the small space, she turned and looked at him.

"You did this for my son?"

"Well, partially," he replied, shrugging. "It's my old nursery; I just got some updated furniture and some new wallpaper-"

He was cut off as the woman threw herself into one side of his body, careful to avoid her son as she attacked him. The man stumbled once at the unexpected contact before regaining his footing, adjusting the baby in his arms.

"Thank you," she whispered, speaking into the crook of his neck. Adjusting his awkward arm-placement on her back, he worked to semi- hug her.

"You're welcome?" he said, not entirely certain why this room seemed so important to her. When she pulled back though, he could see the joy in her eyes.

"Ron didn't take too much consideration into Hugo's living space," she whispered, clutching her hands in front of her up by her face. "Looking back, it's probably around the time that he cheated on me that we started decorating for Hugo's birth. There wasn't a lot of thought in it on Ron's part; it made me think he didn't really care for the child." She focused on him again instead of her surroundings. "This is perfect; I don't feel like such an awful parent now."

"I doubt you were ever awful."

She shrugged. "One of my children was treated like a princess during the first few months of her birth, the other treated like a dog. Hugo didn't get anything special as an infant, and he hasn't really gotten anything since." She smiled genuinely at him. "Thank you for doing this; look at all those toys. He'll love it."

"Yes, well, children like that type of thing."

Grinning, she reached out and took her son from the blonde's grasp. What happened next though wasn't something he was expecting. Without even looking the least bit embarrassed, Hermione leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, her smile appearing half a second after the action. "Merlin, this place is perfect for a child." Hopping over to the crib, she grinned as she looked at the sheets. Peering back over her shoulder, she sent him another smile. "Maybe coming here isn't so bad of an idea! I should've done it sooner!"

"Yes," he replied, touching his cheek. He felt a bit dazed after that unexpected show of emotion, and watched the woman hop on over to a rocking chair, picking up one of the new blankets he provided. Still a bit surprised by her reaction, he spoke again. "My rooms right next door to yours; there's no connecting door though. Tomorrow morning why don't we meet in Rose's room, and from there I can show you where the office is here and we can get back to the case."

"Sounds perfect," she replied, still grinning as she rocked her son. Dazed, he turned away and left the room, reaching up to rub his cheek again.

Did she really just kiss him?

* * *

Hermione felt better than she had in ages when she awoke the following morning. It had been months since she slept in a bed, and the soft mattress in this bedroom formed to her body perfectly. She actually probably slept for too long, and ended up having to feed her son before she could even go find Draco.

He was where he said they should be; in Rose's room. Wandering in with Hugo, she was surprised to not only see Draco lounging in a chair, but to also see Rose and Scorpius seated on the ground nearby, magical figurines scattered between the two.

"Puddlemere United is better!" the blonde boy argued, holding up a figurine that Hermione couldn't name for the life of her. "Everyone knows that."

"No way! Chuddley Cannons are better!" the girl defended, holding up a different toy. Hermione had to smile at that; that was Ron's favorite team, and apparently he left a strong influence on his daughter.

"Nu-uh!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"They've been doing this for over an hour," Draco said as Hermione said down in another seat. "When I came over here they were already playing with Scorpius' toys, and then this debate began."

"How cute," she said, smiling at the two. It was nice to see Draco's son actually having fun, acting like a real child instead of a spoiled brat like the first time she met him.

"I got a response from Tony," he continued, pulling a slip of paper from inside his jacket. It was then that she realized he was dressed, and she still wore her pajamas. Blushing, she attempted to ignore that fact.

"Oh? And what does it say?"

"He says the blood is a match to Cho Chang's. The other is type AB positive, which is different from hers. I've sent a request in for another search."

Hermione's ears peeked up at that. "You requested that he check and see what Nott's blood type is, didn't you."

"Regrettably, yes. I also requested that nothing be mentioned about that at this current time. I'd rather not be fired, even if I don't particularly need the money."

"I see. And the blood on the clothing, or was that for everything?"

"The knife was just Chang. The clothing had her blood and someone else's on it. That's what I'm having Tony look up right now. The letters are harder to determine. We need something to go off of to determine who wrote what, since the notes are cloaked in magic. He'd surely be able to figure it out, but it might take some time."

"Time might be what we need to figure out what to do next," she pointed out.

He nodded. "Are we still on to go and re-visit the abandoned house today?"

"Yes," she said, smiling at him. "I want to uncover as much as possible as quickly as we can."

"That's the spirit," he replied, winking at her. Her unprecedented kiss from last night still lingered in his mind, the implications behind it foggy to him. Was that just an honest way of saying thank-you to her, or did it have some sort of deeper meaning behind it? He hadn't been thinking of Hermione as anything more than a co-worker so far, but after that brief kiss on the cheek- the cheek for Merlin's sake- he reconsidered his thoughts.

Hermione was very easy on the eyes, despite having two children. Her figure was there, her eyes sparkled, and overall she was very nice to look at. But did nice mean he was attracted to her? Well, even since she sat down he couldn't stop peeking over at the perky nipples that poked at the fabric of the shirt, letting him know that she hadn't done anything about her appearance before wandering over there. He wondered if she even knew.

But he was a male, and the need to look might be just because of that. He wasn't sure that made him attracted to her. He decided his best bet was to see how the next few days went and decide from that, now that he was paying attention to her in more than a professional way.

Merlin help him, he was going to complicate things!

But Hermione complicated things first by kissing him, and the by wearing such an awfully teasing shirt. This really wasn't helping with his hormones.

"Draco?"

"Hmm?" he said, realizing that she had been speaking to him. Peering over, he read the confused look on her face. "Sorry, I was thinking."

"If you say so," she mocked, smiling. "I asked you when you would like to go."

"Ah, I see. What do you say around one? That gives you a few hours to eat, change, and speak with your daughter if you'd like."

"Sounds good, but what will we do about them?" She indicated first to Hugo, and then the two children playing on the floor.

He shrugged. "I always have a nanny for him, and besides, I found a new one a few days ago that hasn't run away yet. She's already been alerted that Hugo and Rose are here and need to be watched and cared for as well. Hopefully this will make my son easier to handle."

She thought it was a somewhat bad thing to say that his son needed a friend in order to be manageable, but peering over at the children on the floor she couldn't help but notice how much friendlier Scorpius seemed this morning, despite the cute banter he was sharing with Rose. They seemed to get along well enough.

"Why can't we have my mommy change their robes to pink?"

"Stop that! Nothing in this house is pink!"

"I agree with my son," the blonde muttered, and Hermione smiled. Aside from the nannies, it didn't seem like there was too much femininity in the house. She wondered how long it had been since his ex-wife left the Manor and detached herself from this life. After sleeping on that heavely bed she couldn't imagine ever leaving.

She paused, replaying what she just thought again in her head. _Did I just think that? I'm completely batty; I can't stay here forever! I'll have the rest of my life to live after this case._

They were both silent for a bit, comfortable sitting in each other's company just then. She shook the random thought off, disregarding it as nothing more than a love for the mattress. She'd been there less than a day and couldn't already be attached to the place- or Malfoy, for that matter.

"I've been thinking," he said, cutting through the silence between them as she peered over at him, picking up her tired son to rock him back to sleep.

"M-hmm?"

"Remember the abandoned house?"

"Well enough."

"What was Lavender doing there outside of it? I mean, it's been bothering me since we first saw her there, but now that we're going back its really on my mind. It wasn't Chang's house, so she shouldn't have known how to get there. Unless she was in on the-"

"Don't say the word!" she hissed, glancing back at the children who weren't paying them any mind. "Those words about death, well, Rose has learned them all, and they really upset her. Please don't say it."

"Very well," he replied, glancing at the young children as well. "But she said she was there to see Chang specifically, meaning that she somehow _knew _the woman was there, yet she got upset when we mentioned that she was dead."

Hermione pursed her lips, thinking that over. "You have a point," she agreed, "But what can we prove with that? We'd have to question her about it to understand anything."

"We need to investigate the place first," he reminded, wagging a finger playfully at her, "And then we can worry about doing interviews. It won't help at all to interrogate her unless we know what exactly we want to ask."

"I suppose you're right," she replied, her voice drifting off as something clicked in her mind. "What blood type does Lavender have?"

His eyes flashed. "You think-"

"I think it's a possibility considering she was out there," she replied, locking her eyes with his. "I think it would be worth it to at least find out."

"Probably," he agreed as she stood, "I'll owl Tony later about it. Where are you going?"

"To shower and actually get ready," she replied, beckoning to her son, "So that I can eat after. Do you mind watching him, or should I just keep him with me in the room?"

Draco waved a hand, reaching up to take the child away. "I know how to care for a child at least Hermione; I do have one. Go get ready."

She grinned. "Thank you," she said scooting out of the room as the elder children continued to play. He watched her go, letting out a sigh of relief once she vanished out the door, her nipples having become more and more distracting throughout that conversation.

He still couldn't help wondering if she even noticed, or if she was comfortable like that around him. Honestly, he hoped it was the latter.

* * *

**A/n:** Thoughts? I really liked this chapter! Keep the reviews going darlings and share your thoughts :D


	13. They saw Each Other

**A/n: **Hi again! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter! Thanks again to my beta **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

_It was the first and the last time_

**They Saw Each Other**

"Do you think we'll actually figure anything out?" she asked, following the blonde through the building. The first several rooms of the abandoned place were empty, save for dust and debris. They skipped over those easily enough, peering through the rooms now as they walked.

"Perhaps," he replied, peering into another. "There's a fireplace in this one."

That caught Hermione's attention. Following the blonde into the room, the stopped in front of the floo together, exchanging glances. "Do you think it's been hooked up recently?" she asked. "That's the only way it could've been used."

At first he didn't reply, and she watched Draco study the fireplace intently, from the stones to the floor to the perimeter surrounding it. "It's been activated recently," he said at length, stepping away. "Look, there's light footprints on the ground, though it appears that someone tried to cover them up afterwards. The stones also have differences in places, like someone again tried to recover the space in dust. They did a fairly decent job too, and I wouldn't have even noticed if I didn't inspect it so thoroughly. The differences are very slight."

"So someone flooed here," she said, rubbing her chin, "Meaning that whoever flooed here probably also connected it here. It was probably the killer. That means that they'd been to this location before."

"Possibly," he agreed, nodding his head. "We can't jump to conclusions just yet though. This is a very minor fact in the scheme of things, and we'll need evidence to back it up. Maybe we should thoroughly search this room."

"I thought that was why we were here to begin with," she mocked, winking at him. He glanced her way and realized she was already inspecting the bleak room, her wand pulled out to provide some additional light. He joined her in the search quickly enough, inspecting the walls as he went.

"Draco, look!" she said after a bit, and he glanced her direction. She was fingering a crack in the wall, running her finger down to the floor. He realized that the crack went all the way down there. Joining her, he eyed the spot suspiciously.

"Looks like a door," he reasoned, pointing to another long crack that reached the floor. Following the line up this time, he noticed that it jutted to the side, touching Hermione's. They glanced at each other.

"It's hidden well within the worn walls. If I wasn't feeling around I wouldn't have noticed."

"That's probably why it was overlooked," he agreed, studying the door. Pocketing his wand, he attempted to shove the spot open several times without getting anywhere. At some point, he glanced back at Hermione to see if she had any ideas, and realized she had disappeared back towards the fireplace.

"Something must activate it," she muttered, examining the fireplace. A certain spot drew her attention each time she glanced that direction, and she realized it was because the spot was the lightest on the dusty floo connection. Reaching over to brush the space, she felt it tingle against her finger. Something slid open behind her, and she whipped her head around to see what it was.

Draco was smirking. "Well done Granger, you seem to have cracked the code."

"None of that Granger nonsense," she reminded, studying that part of the brick. "It's Hermione from now on, remember?"

"Right. Well, Hermione, why don't you come and peer at what we've found?"

Reluctantly she left the fireplace, her mind still swirling as to what she did to open the chamber when there was no button. Draco was already gone from his spot, the contents within the hidden room apparently drawing him in quickly. And the closer she got, she could see why.

The space was loaded with everything that could possibly be needed for a home. It was all collected neatly and stacked collectively around the chamber, the space obviously magically enlarged to contain everything. Glancing at Draco, she could see that he was thinking the same thing.

"Someone lived here," she said, tapping her chin again. He nodded, picking through a few items.

"And someone attempted to hide the fact," he continued, glancing at several items. "They didn't seem too worried about anyone finding this room though if they didn't secure it very well. I doubt the expected anyone to return here."

"Maybe the killer?" she asked, eyeing him.

The blonde shrugged. "Maybe. It seems like the best option. This can't be Chang's home since she obviously lives elsewhere, and Brown is out of the question too. The killer seems like a likely candidate."

She nodded, wandering through the space. A set of boxes sat just inside the entrance, the contents organized better and wrapped up better than anything else in the space. Curiously, she sat down and opened a box, peering inside. Her heart stopped briefly at the contents.

"Someone was planning on starting a family," she whispered, picking a few things out of the box. She could feel Draco getting closer to her, the man having wandered over as she got caught up in what she found.

"Baby clothes," he said, looking at the items that still had price tags on them. He picked one up, observing it carefully. "The tags are worn; these have been sitting for a while."

"The items in this room, or these boxes?" she asked, peering up at him. He shrugged, unsure how to respond to that. She set the clothing aside, scooting away to open another box. She gasped.

"What?" he asked, peering over her shoulder into the box. He didn't understand its contents.

Slowly she lifted some papers from the box- thinner than parchment, but stronger than tracing paper. She was careful with them, standing cautiously as she set them on a box propped up higher, studying them with large eyes.

"Hermione, what exactly are these?"

She shuffled the papers around, picking up a paper that clearly depicted the obvious image. "In the muggle world these are called ultrasounds; mother's use them to track their child's growth in their bodies and see them develop." She indicated to the obvious head and body, and could tell that this ultrasound must've been done further on in the pregnancy, but it obviously wasn't the full baby yet that she would give birth to. "The magical world does this a bit differently. Sometimes the image moves. Often it's quite a bit clearer." She squinted her eyes. "These appear to be the muggle version."

"That makes sense," he said, "This is a muggle neighborhood. I suppose there's no name on those papers?"

"Doesn't seem like it. Look, the corners miss on the same side on every single sheet here. Someone tore the name off. I wonder why."

"Maybe to keep people like us from finding out their identity," he suggested, picking up a paper. "So if these things do really belong to the killer, then there's a possibility that they- or someone they were with- got pregnant. And from the looks of it, they were preparing for a life together."

"If the killer is a he," she reminded, glancing at the boxes of clothing again. "It looks like something happened though; none of the clothing has ever been worn."

He nodded grimly. "Well, maybe we have a motive now. Who isn't angry if they lose a kid?"

"I don't know," she said, sighing. Shuffling the papers back together, she shrank them down and placed them into her pocket. "I'll take them for evidence."

"Agreed," he said, picking up a piece of clothing and pocketing that as well. "One never knows when creepy things like this might come in handy."

"Yeah," she said, brushing her hair out of her face. "Can we get out of this room, please? It's giving me the creeps now."

Nodding, he inclined his head and she zipped off ahead of him, eager to get away from the scene now. Following her to the door, he glanced back only one. The entire room had an eerie feeling to it.

It was like a cemetery of a life, a life set in motion that ended abruptly. But what stopped this supposed family from forming remained a mystery, and he feared they would find out what it was before all of this was through.

He made sure to shut the door extra tight when he went out.

* * *

They didn't uncover anything else groundbreaking while at the abandoned house. Deciding to turn what they had discovered into Tony- under strict orders that he mention the contents to no one- the two reluctantly retired to Draco's office, ever wary that one of their suspects headed that division of the Ministry.

"And you're sure we can believe everything she says?" Hermione asked skeptically, eyeing the blonde man before her. "We still don't even know why she was there! Why should she have been looking for Cho at that abandoned house of all places?"

He sighed at his desk, having listened to Hermione debate- mostly to herself- about the issue with Lavender Brown and whether or not she could be trusted. He completely agreed that there was something fishy going on with her, and wouldn't be surprised if she was indeed withholding something. But he wasn't about to feed Hermione's fire, not when she got so worked up whenever her name was mentioned.

"Perhaps we should interview her again," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "We could go to her house again, have a search warrant even and pick around for things. But we actually have to have some questions for her Hermione, and they can't be angry questions simply based on the fact that she, well… that she slept with your husband while you were together with him."

She huffed. "Well, why not? It would be some questions, nonetheless."

"Yes, but they wouldn't be too practical on our part. We don't want to upset her and lose someone who might actually be able to bring in some decent evidence, and perhaps even turn the tables against my boss?" He waggled his eyebrows, knowing that he could lure her in with the prospect of proving that his boss had something to do with this. She was dead set on the matter.

Groaning, she agreed. "Fine, but don't expect me to like this! I still don't think that being civil with Lavender is going to get us past anything but sugar coated answers. I get the feeling that she's hiding something."

"Yes, you seem to get that feeling a lot," he remarked, sitting back so he could pull out some parchment and a quill. "Now just let me owl her-"

"Oh no, you're going to send some overly-kind note to her, aren't you?" She stood immediately, wandering towards the door. "Fine, write your silly note, but I won't be here for it. I'll just go down the hall, get some coffee or something."

He shook his head as she left, dipping the quill into some ink. No matter what that woman liked to say, this topic did honestly bother her. He saw the truth in her eyes whenever they spoke of something to sensitive, like her husband's affair or her home in general. For the time being he wouldn't argue about her sudden departure.

In the hallway, Hermione was far too happy to be escaping. The idea of even being there while he sent civil words to Lavender made her stomach turn. Their talk in the hallway just the other day may not have been terrible, but it wasn't something she wanted to repeat. And the idea of going to that woman's house, peering through the space where her husband may have walked, sat, slept, and fucked with that woman caused her stomach to do flips, not simply turns. She wasn't sure she could handle a visit there.

Turning a corner, she quickly tried to backtrack, but it was too late. The occupant in the hallway had already seen her round the corner, and was hurrying quickly to her side.

"I was beginning to wonder if you and Malfoy vacated the premises," Theo said, stepping up beside her. "I haven't seen the two of you around here too much recently."

"We've just been working," she said awkwardly, trying to converse with him as little as possible. The fact that inappropriate questions were burning on the tip of her tongue, questions like where he was the nights Ron and Chang died and if he had blue paper, caused her to bite the inside of her cheek, praying to Merlin that she didn't let one of those sentences lip past her lips. Although it was tempting to try and get some answers out of her number one suspect, she didn't think it was the best choice. It wouldn't do to have Theo knowing they suspected him.

"Good to hear," he said, though he didn't sound very interested in that at all. "Then you've made some progress in the case?"

"We're getting there," she replied, moving so she stood opposite him in the hallway, instead of close to the wall. If she had to knee Draco's boss in the balls for pushing her into anything, she didn't think things would go over well for them. And Theo didn't seem to be too reasonable of a man.

"Any leads?" he asked, relaxing against the wall she had just vacated.

Hermione frowned. "Don't you think that's something that shouldn't be discussed out in the open? It is a closed case after all, and from what I've _heard_, not what I've been _taught_, cases shouldn't be discussed in the open until they are solved, and even after the fact some things are never really brought into the light. I won't discuss this with you here."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Then perhaps we can take this conversation elsewhere," he implied, reaching forward to grab her arm. She shook him off quickly, stepping back

"I think we should continue this conversation with your employee _Draco_ once we actually think we have something worthwhile for you," she said, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. "I won't be discussing this without him."

The man's expression fell a degree. "Uptight, are we, Hermione?"

She resisted the urge to shiver when he said her name; something didn't feel right about that. "No, just practical. We have some leads but so far we haven't really gotten to follow any of them, and until we have some hardcore evidence I don't think it's wise to be spouting off gibberish," she replied coolly, arching an eyebrow at him. "Besides, don't you prefer a report from your employee and not just some girl that you brought in because she has an oversized brain?" She was probably bashing herself a bit, but she didn't care. She just wanted him to leave her be.

His lip twitched at her words, and she hoped that she'd struck a chord enough to get him to leave her be, or that she'd pissed him off and he'd go brood someplace else. Dropping her eyes briefly from his face, she glanced at the stack of papers in his hands and stopped cold. Were those… _blue_ papers poking out the top?!

"Fuck you Granger, you know? Just because I requested to have you brought in for this case doesn't give you any right to boss me around. Just because you don't get along with Malfoy-"

"Don't get along? You think we don't get along anymore? We're doing fine, though we are a bit different at times, we've put our differences aside for this. My _attitude_ has nothing to do with him. It's actually a reflection of your lack of professionalism."

"_My_ lack of-"

"Please don't raise your voice," she said quickly, glancing down briefly at the items in his hands again, "You might disturb your other workers."

He took a deep breath, and Hermione cocked an eyebrow as he worked to get himself under control. Well, maybe if she pegged him as the killer, she could use this as leverage later on; he had to calm himself during a minimal hallway dispute.

"Look, Granger," he said, dropping the use of her given name, "I'm extending the courtesy of not bashing your head into the wall, so why don't you do the same and shut that fucking mouth of yours? You don't quite understand the stress that comes with this job sometimes."

"Did you just threaten to assault me, Nott?" she asked, taking a step back again as her fingers slipped into her pockets, finding the reassuring wood of her wand. She could probably just as easily knock on the doors nearby if she felt truly threatened, but Hermione didn't want to bring other people into this. Despite the fact that it did sound like he threatened her, she felt like she was beginning to pry at the layers of his resolve. Maybe if she could do so well enough she could get something out of him. And damn, at that point, he might give something away himself.

And then he did the exact opposite of what she wanted him to do; he took several deep breaths and calmed down. Her hopes of getting him to admit something under a compressed fury disappeared immediately. Well, there went that plan.

"I would never threaten you, Hermione," he said, returning to using her given name, though his tone sounded a bit mocking. "I was simply painting you a vivid picture."

"Of how you could assault me?" she pressed.

"Of what some people might seek to do to you," he corrected, though there was a twinkle in his eye. "Now although this banter has been wondrous, I really must be on my way. The head of a department is always busy." He brushed by her, and she found herself stepping unconsciously out of his way. "See you soon, Hermione."

She blinked as he left, uncertain about what she felt at that point. He seemed incredibly bipolar after that discussion, else he was simply a time bomb of rage waiting to explode on anyone, and she wasn't sure which. She only knew two things:

One, she needed desperately to see into Theo's things. If he had some scraps of blue paper like Lavender claimed, then she wondered what else he hid in his belongings.

And two, she was pretty damn sure she'd just been threatened, and it was far more severe than some hallway disputes. Just thinking that Theo might be the killer, and that he was threatening her in the hallways of the Ministry, made her skin crawl, and she shoved her hands into her pockets, glancing around. More than ever, she did not want to be in that building.

Turning, she hurried back towards Draco's office, the gears in her mind turning. There were a lot of loopholes in what lies she was sure Theo could produce, and she was very interested to investigate them. Perhaps after Draco finished owling Brown, she could consult him about owling Nott's superior, and requesting the ability to be able to search his office. She was willing to bet there were more clues up there than anyone really wanted to admit. And she was deadset on finding them.

* * *

"And you're sure that the letter will reach him?" Hermione asked as they prepared to leave the office. After a lot of persuasion on her part, she bribed the blonde into owling Theo's superior, someone who managed the departments whose name she couldn't quite pronounce, requesting the right to investige his office. So far, she had avoided telling him why she so desperately needed to go searching there. But she doubted that telling him that the boss he already didn't like had threatened her would do any good. If anything, she would have better luck keeping her mouth shut on the matter until they got a response back, unless of course her decision was incorrect. Perhaps Draco would be very annoyed that she didn't tell him anything.

Oh well, that was a bridge she was going to have to cross when they got to it. For now she just wanted to focus on this.

Lavender had responded barely a half hour after Draco sent the letter, saying that she didn't mind doing another interview but that she didn't want anyone touching anything in her house. Unfortunately for Brown, Hermione had gone down while Draco responded and worked on some paperwork to retrieve a search warrant, and they now had the availability to search her home without question. She hoped that the woman would try and stop them so that she could try and get something out of her. She was quite fixed on that idea.

"I'm sure it will, but the matter of time with which it might take to get a response is a different thing entirely. That man manages all the departments in the Ministry, and that's not exactly a small task. Although a lot of the work is spread amongst sub-groups, he deals with situations like this. We can only hope that he responds within the month."

"_Month_?" she asked, spinning around to look at Draco. He nodded grimly, and she sighed. "It will really take that long?"

"It can. And I'm sure that since the request is unprecedented that he'll spend more time than usual considering it before granting anything. Trust me Hermione it's going to be a while."

She sighed, adjusting her jacket again. "Brown really said we can come over tonight? She doesn't want to wait?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, she said tonight is fine, she just doesn't know that we've obtained this warrant that you were _more _than happy to pick up." She grinned sheepishly at that. "You know it's going to start an argument when we announce that, right?"

"Oh, I'm expecting it," she muttered. "I'm sure the last thing she wants is for me to pry through her things. We hardly get along! She's going to think that I'm trying to get some dirt on her!"

"Well," he said, eyeballing her, "You are."

"Yes well, it sounds better if we don't put it that way." She glanced at the clock, biting her lip. "Are you sure the children will be alright?"

"Fine. The nanny will still be there, and since I have yet to receive an angry owl declaring that she's quit, I'd say things are going swimmingly. This might actually be the first nanny that I've kept for a decent amount of time in ages. Your daughter might actually be good for my son."

She shrugged. "

Scorpius just needs a friend. He's young, and the interactions are huge at their age, you know? And having friends at this age will help and keeps the dilemma of him possibly being anti-social out of the picture later on. That's probably why he acted out so much, because he wanted people to be around."

The blonde considered that, cocking his head to one side. "Hmm, I never thought of that."

"It might explain you as well," she added playfully, watching his thoughtful expression quickly morph into a frown. "I'm just saying! You were a cocky little bastard when we were children."

"Still am," he reminded, winking in her direction. "We better get going though, or she's going to start wondering where we are."

"Oh joy," Hermione muttered, stepping into the floo. "Has she opened her network up?"

"Yes, I requested it," he said, handing her some powder. "Now, between the time that you arrive and I do, please don't kill her."

"This is why you should've gone through first," she responded, winking in his direction as she called out his destination. He could ponder that slipup of his while he waited for her to get through. Right now they had more pressing matters to attend to, like questioning Lavender Brown.

* * *

**A/n:** Hope you enjoyed! Please keep those reviews up and share your thoughts :D

For anyone interested, a person on my competition team has mysteriously vanished. They may or may not reappear. So we're looking for someone to fill in part-time, possibly permanently! Check out The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Forum if interested! I'm on the Montrose Magpies team, so come check me and the rest of the teams out! But if you're looking to help my team (well, the one I'm on) come check the thread!


	14. Face to Face

**A/n: **Hope you enjoy! And I have a beta now :D Thanks to **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

* * *

**Face to Face**

As soon as she arrived, Hermione knew something was wrong. Maybe it was the carelessly discarded magazines on the floor, the broken glass or the dropped plate of food, or maybe it was the half-broken door that she could see from her position exiting the fireplace. Lavender's front door had been broken open.

Quickly, Hermione got out and began searching around, discarding the idea of finding clues and replacing it with the sudden need to ensure that Lavender was still alive. As much as she disliked her she really didn't want to happen upon another corpse, particularly a pregnant one. She was already out of the main room when Draco arrived.

"Shit. Hermione! Where are you?"

"Kitchen. I don't see Lavender in here or in the living room across either. You go upstairs and I'll go down and-"

He was already by her side before she could finish, cutting her off as he gently touched her arm. "We're not splitting up. You can still smell the chicken she was about to eat; that attack didn't happen long ago, and we need to keep our voices down. We're not splitting up if someone is indeed still here."

She nodded quickly, having not even considered that someone was still there. Pursing her lips together, she robotically followed the blonde to a nearby door, which he opened slowly to reveal a set of stairs down to the basement. For someone demanding money to fund her child, Lavender certainly did have an awfully big house. Hermione just didn't want to find another corpse, and she thought that might be the reason why she seemed more afraid than she normally would be.

They descended the stairs, wands at the ready. She stayed behind him, getting her scattered thoughts in order. If her fears did meet her at the bottom of the steps, then she wanted to ready herself for this undesirable surprise. Rounding the corner, she gasped.

Lavender lay in the middle of the floor, not ten feet from them, a puddle of blood forming beneath her. The pair rushed to Lavender's side, kneeling beside her. She groaned, but would not open her eyes despite Draco's many attempts to awaken her.

"This just happened," he said, looking at the fresh wound. Unlike Cho and Ron, none of the blood had dried, and the wound in her side was bleeding. Hermione panicked, wondering about the child within, and whether or not it would survive now that it's mother was bleeding from a stab wound. Oddly enough, the knife was still in the woman's side. "Looks like we just missed them. Fuck!"

Hermione nodded, ready to run back upstairs and floo St. Mungo's that they had an emergency patient coming, when something caught her senses, the smell of smoke. Standing, she wandered away from the blonde as he worked to keep the woman breathing, her concern growing with every step as she neared a door on the other side of the room. Throwing open the door once she was close enough she screamed, gasping as her wand shook in her head.

Someone had just left the premises, leaving through a second floo. She could see the last bits of smoke disappearing, but that wasn't what had her eyes growing; the attacker had set some papers on fire, and it was quickly igniting the entire room. Scrambling to get ahold of herself and keep her cool, she aimed her wand at the rapid flames, knowing if she did not put the sudden fire out now that evidence- as well as Lavender's home- would go up in flames.

"Aguamenti!" she called, watching the water attack some nearby flames, diminishing them as well as soaking the room. She screamed out the name again as her jet of water began to slacken, stopping the flames before they could move onto the rest of the house. Smoke hit her in the face as she finished getting rid of the flames and she coughed, finally able to take it in that she was eating smoke and not breathing proper air. Gasping, she stumbled back out the door, relieved at least that the house wouldn't burn down.

"Hermione!" She stumbled and fell against a broad chest, having not turned around since she started coughing on the smoke. Spinning around she found that she'd run into Draco, and quickly threw her arms around him, burying her head into his chest. "Hermione, are you alright?"

"Fine," she sputtered, pulling back again. She couldn't just stand there and relish in his presence, not when things were so serious. She wouldn't mind melting against his frame and taking a deep breath, calming herself from the sudden whirlwind of things happening around her, but that wasn't something that could be done. They had Lavender to deal with. "Someone was in here!"

"I know," he said, "But please, tell me later. Go upstairs, okay? Whoever was here made their departure already, and apparently planned to make sure none of us- or at least Brown- never got out of here. Go upstairs and floo St. Mungo's, tell them we have a serious injury and need someone to come through immediately. I'll wait with her okay? Just go upstairs."

She knew he was getting her away from the drama, the bleeding body, and she didn't like it one bit. He was trying to detach her at the moment, put her someplace else, and she refused to be pushed away from the situation. But just then, she knew she couldn't argue. Lavender was bleeding to death and the baby was possibly injured or worse and she couldn't fathom someone losing a child. Without another word, she rushed by him, taking the basement stairs two at a time. She could hear him following along part of the way, until his footsteps died off and she knew he was back with Lavender, trying to keep her from getting any worse.

Hermione didn't want to think about the situation as she flooed St. Mungo's. She suddenly felt numb.

* * *

"Are you sure this is okay?" she asked, even though she knew it was. She didn't really want to be at Lavender's right after the event, but they didn't have much choice. Aurors already did their usual look-see through the place and declared it empty, so now it was Draco's job to go back through and investigate. Hermione found for the first time that she honestly didn't want to be a part of this. It felt too real.

St. Mungo's refused to reveal anything about Lavender's condition to them once they arrived, saying that they had to contact family first. Draco didn't push it too much then, telling Hermione that they just needed to wait a bit until she was conscious and vulnerable, and then they could go speak to the woman. Until then, he had other ideas in mind, and Hermione found herself following his plans numbly. Her emotions were still unstable.

Seeing death still made her think about her late-husband. Although she didn't know for sure- and doubted that- Lavender was dead she still worried, even if she didn't' like her. Maybe she should try and take Draco's advice, and not worry so much.

So instead of questioning Lavender like they planned, the duo returned to her home to search for clues. Aside from that backroom that currently didn't have a name in the basement, nothing was really destroyed in the house, which was perfect. It gave them the best chance of finding some useful clues. The only one they currently had was the knife in Lavender's side, which a Healer removed for Draco before they left. On the return trip, Malfoy dropped it off to Tony for examination, still telling him to keep everything secret. Hopefully they would have some insight on the knife by the time they returned to his Manor.

The kitchen and front room revealed nothing. The two worked in silence, Draco mostly for Hermione's sanity. He knew she wasn't doing well, but didn't want to bring it up, not when they were in Brown's home. He'd much rather talk about things when they were back at his Manor, safe from any sort of danger. Though he doubted that the attacker would return to that place after nearly being caught. Things didn't really go his way this time it seemed. Upstairs in Lavender's room though, things began to change.

"She has a lot of unopened letters," the girl remarked, looking through the woman's desk. There were eleven unmarked and unopened letters, all sealed in boring manila envelopes. She held them up over her head for Draco to see as she continued to look around through the drawers.

"Set them on the bed; we can look through things like that later. They could be rubbish, or very important. Either way, we can take them since we're doing an investigation."

Deciding to agree and not argue, she tossed them on the bed and continued looking through Lavender's things, finding the entire process disturbing. She didn't really want to look through Brown's things, not when their situation was uncomfortable. Aside from an abundance of clothing, nothing interesting was found in the bedroom, and after Draco pocketed the letters, they headed out to explore the rest of the upper floor.

At one point, Hermione couldn't help herself and started talking under her breath. "She doesn't need money."

"Sorry?" the blonde asked, glancing up from the drawer he was looking through in the office next to Lavender's room. "Did you say something?"

"She didn't need to pester me for Ron's money to support the baby," Hermione said, crossing her arms. "Look at this house; it's larger than mine and she's the only one that lives here! She didn't need to reveal that she's carrying Ron's child because she was in need of finances; she did it for publicity."

"You think she's that shallow?" he asked, keeping his opinion out of it. She had a point that Brown didn't need the finances, but to say that she did all of this for ratings.

"Maybe," she muttered, pressing her lips together briefly. "Or maybe she wanted to catch someone's attention."

"Really now? And who's attention would she be looking for?"

Hermione shrugged, continuing to look around. "Never mind, I don't even know. It was just me rambling." They stopped talking then, continuing to search in silence, and he again kept his mouth shut, letting her think things over in her head now before they spoke at his home later.

They got down to the basement soon enough after that, the rest of the rooms proving useless. In that large open room where they found Lavender, they found something else too that made Hermione's eyes water.

"They're baby supplies," she whispered, touching the crib box, unopened thus far. There wasn't an extensive amount of items yet, just enough to get started with planning for a child's arrival, but enough that it made her heartache. "Draco," she whispered, "What if they child dies?"

"That won't happen," he said sternly, reaching out to hug her to his side. He couldn't let her think about that just then, not when she was distressed enough. He could feel her shaking slightly, emotions bottled up in the poor woman. Without thinking, he kissed her temple, rubbing one arm with his palm. Almost instantly, she began to calm down. "Don't think like that, okay? You're going to worry yourself to death if you do. Come on, we only have one more room to look through, and then we can get out of this place."

She nodded, letting him continue to hold her to his side as they walked towards the room that she found ablaze earlier, comforted by his grip on her. It was kind of nice to be held so close to someone like that again. No one else had ever held her like that, none save Ron.

She didn't even think about the implication of that at the time. She was too busy watching the blonde open the store, switching on the light to look into the windowless room.

"Still smells like smoke," he noted, holding her as they walked in. Her eyes scanned the space on her side, searching for something relevant before she finally detached herself from him, realizing she was really going to have to open things to do some proper investigating. Almost instantly, she noticed the absence of his warmth and missed it. At least the space was small, and with a good section of the room having burnt there wasn't much to look through. The blonde took it upon himself to look through the ashes, seeing if anything notable survived.

"Our escapee ran out a bit quick this time," Draco said after a few minutes, drawing Hermione's attention. She looked over to see him holding a bit of cloth. "Obviously, the attacker has never feared being caught. Our unplanned arrival wasn't something that could be anticipated, and caught under pressure it seems that their perfect plans go astray. Three attacks and this is the only one where we find groundbreaking clues."

"Something he was wearing?" she asked, and he blonde raised an eyebrow on the implication that it was a male. "What?"

"You're so certain it's a male," the man said, shaking his head at her as he pocketed the bit of cloth. "Why does not one even think that a woman could be an extreme killer? I mean, my aunt was practically one."

Hermione grimaced, unable to argue with the fact that Bellatrix was certainly made from the right material to become a serial killer. "True, but I have this feeling Draco. I just feel like it's a guy."

"No," he corrected, turning away from her to continue looking, "You're just locked on the idea that it's my boss."

Once more, she couldn't argue with that. He knew how she felt the man that sought her out for employment. Something just wasn't right with him. Again dropping the topic, she turned back to search what little remained of the room, opening a drawer to find nothing. She was about to turn away when something caught her eyes, causing her to do a double take. She lifted up a lamp off a cluttered table, pulling forth something that made her eyebrows draw together.

"Perhaps Lavender isn't so innocent," she muttered, and he looked her way, immediately catching sight of what was in her hands. Walking over, he took one of the items away.

"Looks like the same blue paper like what you found on my desk," he said, implying something to her. She rolled her eyes, glancing down at the note. Unlike the ones she found upstairs, these were not locked inside an envelope. They had been opened, apparently read often, and stuffed beneath the base of a lamp for supposed safekeeping.

"I think they're love letters!" she cried, eyes widening in excitement.

"Woah, don't read those yet," he said, covering the papers with his hand. "We should really get out of here first."

"Why? It can't hurt to stay and have a peek," she said, moving away from him, just as he jutted an arm out in the direction of the floo.

"We don't know if that's shut off yet. Just in case any of this makes it into the evening paper, we might want to watch our backs. It wasn't a particularly small scene when we arrived at St. Mungo's, and there's always a reporter somewhere in that place. Just in case…"

She groaned. "Fine, we'll get out of here and be boring. But once we get back to your house, we have to look through this stuff! You can't say there's any danger there."

He smirked. "Right, just after we drop off this swatch of fabric to Tony, hmm?"

"Right," she said sarcastically, unhappy at the idea of taking a detour. "Why don't you drop it off to Tony, and I'll go back to the Manor. I can check on the kids, that poor nanny of yours, and then we can get two things done at once, getting us to looking at the evidence faster."

He hesitated. He knew that she was eager because they were figuring things out, because she hoped that someplace within the letters that she could discover something about her late-husband, and get revenge for him like she'd been talking about since the beginning. But he didn't want to leave her at the Manor alone in case something went wrong, in case seeing the children made her sad, in case she opened the letters and discovered something that she didn't like, and just in case she wasn't as put together as she was trying to seem to be and she broke down, scaring the children there. He didn't want her going back just so she could be upset and cry alone. But he could see the longing in her eyes, and how very desperate she was to unravel the clues.

"Fine," he relented, hoping he wasn't making a mistake. "We're going to have to apparate though since we aren't sure about her floo system. I'll take you by and then floo to the Ministry."

She nodded, grateful that he was letting her go. She was tired of wasting time, and more so, she didn't feel particularly comfortable in Lavender's home. But she did, almost unfortunately, get what she had wanted. She got to look through the house and see what Lavender was hiding. Only, it wasn't done in the ideal sort of way.

They left they house, standing on the sidewalk as to avoid Brown's wards. Leaning into his chest so they could apparate, she found comfort there. They may have been enemies at some point but lately, he was proving to be the best kind of friend.

Maybe, even a little bit more.

* * *

She hugged Rose, holding the child close. Scorpius seemed irritated that not only was his father not home yet, but his playmate was being stolen by her mother. The nanny sat off to the side, having been requested to hang around until Draco returned. She agreed, rocking Hugo to sleep. Hermione got choked up at the image and didn't ask to see her son, but simply left the room. It was a depressing site after all that happened while they were out.

Scorpius showed her where his father's office was, but warned her that he didn't like when people moved his things. She smiled at that, supposing it was what the father told his son to keep him from touching everything in the room. Once inside, Scorpius wasted no time running back to continue his play with Rose, and Hermione smiled lightly, pained by the thought. At least the children got along.

She just hoped that Lavender's child would live. It was the mother's fault for everything after all, not the child's. The baby didn't need to suffer. Taking a deep breath, she took a seat at the desk, leaving Draco's seat alone. She wasn't sure he would love seeing her sitting in his chair, and decided to not test that ground just then, not when her interest was elsewhere.

A letter sat open on his desk, and curiously she leaned over to see it, a separate sheet at its side. It was a list of the alibi's Draco had owled about Nott's whereabouts the nights Cho and Ron died, and each name was crossed out. It appeared that no one knew where he had been, and she pursed her lips at the thought. Maybe that would prompt Draco to stop being stubborn and let them interrogate him, much like they had attempted to do to Lavender today. Hopefully, they would hear about the woman's condition in the morning.

_I'll have to remember to pester him about that again, lest he keeps ignoring me. _Sighing, she picked up the blue papers first, hoping that they would be easier to read than the unopened envelopes. At least these were love letters, and she feared to discover just who they were written to, knowing Lavender.

Reading through the first letter, she realized there wasn't much love within the pages at all. What started off with a cliché _my sweet_ quickly evolved into a lot of swearing and threats. Her eyes widened a degree, wondering why Lavender let someone speak to her in such a way. Scanning to the bottom, she groaned.

They weren't sighed. All the letters seemed to be the return letters to Lavender's responses, and none of them were signed. Would figure too, considering that she finally had something on Lavender. Although the way this person spoke didn't sound like Ron, she couldn't help but wonder. Maybe this was when their relationship began falling to pieces.

A tapping sound earned a slight shriek out of her, and whirling around she faced the window behind Draco's desk. She wasn't expecting to hear anything until he arrived, and the tapping sound coming from the window frightened her. But her fear was for nothing apparently, since the only thing outside the window was a bird. Breathing a sigh of relief she moved to the window and opened it up, letting the creature in before she shut it again, a bitter wind attacking her. It was probably some business mail for Draco, considering that this was his home and office. Taking a seat again, she made to ignore the bird.

Apparently, her guess was wrong. The bird pecked lightly at her skin, attempting to get her attention. Groaning, she took the letter from the bird, shooing it over to the open bin of food near Draco's chair to eat. Maybe now it would leave her alone. Setting the letter down, her eyes caught sight of the scribbled out name written across the rolled p parchment.

_Granger._ Snatching the letter up, she quickly unrolled it, half expecting it to be a letter from Malfoy. But she knew that was silly, for this wasn't even his handwriting.

She was surprised she even knew what his handwriting looked like, thinking on the idea now. Staring at the open roll though, her mind blanked, and she read through the message quickly.

_Granger~_

_You're going to end up like that husband of yours if you don't watch your step. You may not yet be on the victim list, but your name may find a spot there. Don't dig where your nose doesn't belong; leave it to the professionals, or your babies might just find themselves without a mother as well._

Her heart practically stopped. It wasn't signed, just like the letters she'd been reading from Lavender's house. And apparently the killer knew she'd been there looking around today, if she was receiving this. Glancing at the bird, shivers ran down her spine. This situation was getting worse by the minute.

Something lingered in her mind, even as she rolled the letter up again with slightly trembling hands. Only a few people called her Granger, else it was Hermione, or Mrs. Weasley as people who didn't know her well often did, despite her husband being six feet under. The way this person addressed her left very few names on the suspect list as far as she was concerned.

And Draco certainly wasn't the killer, but she was beginning to feel sure she knew who was.

* * *

**A/n:** Hope you enjoyed! We're getting pretty close to the end! Possibly five chapters left, probably less, with an epilogue. So keep on reviewing my lovelies!

The competition I'm in has lost one of its players for my team. If interested in joining please PM me!


	15. Crimson Smile

**A/n**: I love this chapter, hope you do too! Thanks to my new beta **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

* * *

_They shared a _

**Crimson Smile**

Once Draco arrived, he confirmed that none of Nott's alibi's confirmed that they were with him the night of either murder. Hermione immediately attempted to push for an investigation of his house/office, but once more Draco held back. He simply wasn't sure about doing that. To prove that they needed to go, Hermione brazenly showed him the threatening note she received just before his arrival.

His eyes flashed as he read the note, and his jaw tightened. "You think Nott sent it?" he asked tightly, and she could tell that he was none too pleased to see this. She nodded, and he slammed the note down on the desk before standing. "Is that the bloody bird that brought it?"

"It's just a mail owl," she said, standing as well to defend the poor owl that was now on the other side of Malfoy's wrath. "They didn't use a private owl for security measures."

"We're going to trace the mail system then," he muttered, as he began pacing. "This can't be tolerated!"

"I didn't ask for it to be," she reminded sternly, "But we will have to let the mail system know we're coming if we plan to intrude-"

"What? You think _we're_ going to do that?" he asked, shaking his head. "No, not one bit. I'll ask one of my mates in the department to do that. Since you're so suspicious of Theo, we best not give him anything suspicious to think about. We'll just have to have someone check it out."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "Are you finally admitting that Theo is a suspect?"

He waved a hand as he passed her, unwilling to feed her ego by admitting so. She was so stuck on Theo being the killer that he didn't want to even hint that he suspected the same, lest she take that smidge of agreement and run with it, attempting to search his office early or some other rubbish. Besides, the things they took from Brown's still sat untouched on his desk. The blue notes were unopened, just like the letters they found in her room. Taking a breath, he chose his words carefully.

"It would seem that we need to at least investigate that Nott might have something to do with this. I'll owl the manager of the departments about this before we go to sleep tonight and explain why I think we need to have the right to investigate his office, secretly. Nott goes to plenty of meetings, and if we investigated while he's out to one he would never know. But we also can't put all our eggs in one basket; there are still a few places we can investigate."

The woman's expression dropped at that, and she glanced down. "You mean… like my home?"

He nodded grimly. "Aside from Nott's office or his home, we've already looked everywhere else for clues. Look, you seem a bit drained from today. We'll leave the letters until after we investigate your home, so you'll have something to preoccupy yourself with once we leave. I'm also waiting for confirmation about Lavender's health so we can go interview her and see if she remembers anything."

"I guess that makes sense," she sighed. "But Draco, I don't' want to go to my house and look. I don't want to tear it apart." She worried her bottom lip, staring at the floor.

The blonde saw her concern and stopped pacing, moving to crouch in front of her. "That's why we're the ones investigating," he reminded, rubbing her knee for comfort. "We won't wreck anything while there, alright? And we certainly don't need to go into the basement this time."

She cringed at the mere mention of it, and he gripped her knee tightly. "Oh please don't talk about it! I won't go there if I end up thinking about the basement."

Nodding as best he could, the man reached out and grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips for a kiss. It was a sweet, but unexpected, gesture. "Of course. We won't bring it up again, okay?"

Hermione nodded, but she knew that wasn't really true. He was trying to comfort her, trying to be sweet, but in actuality they would have to talk about it, and at some point they would have to go down there, or at least one of them would. She dreaded when that day would come. But at the very least, he was good with comforting, and knew how to make her feel better.

"So tomorrow?" he asked, watching her nod. "Why don't you go get some rest then? I'll owl the manager and then be off to bed too; we'll need the sleep."

Agreeing, Hermione got up and bid him a hasty goodnight. She rushed out of there quickly, and once in the hallway, attempted to compose herself. It was a bit early to turn in, but she was already exhausted, both mentally and physically. Dealing with this situation took a lot out of her.

Wringing her hands as she wandered down the hallway, she worried her lip. Ron would have a fit if he knew who she was with, who she was falling for, even if he was just a friend at the time. He would hate that she was anywhere near Malfoy. But the blonde man had grown since they were children, and he had matured into quite a curious adult. He was sweet and kind to her, and he seemed to genuinely care about her. It gave her butterflies when they were together for too long sometimes, even though that was silly since she wasn't a teenager anymore. And despite everything, she wished that Ron would be happy for her.

She hoped he would be happy that she could learn to move on, that she felt comfortable around someone, that someone took away the hurt a bit, be it Draco Malfoy or not. And despite everything, she hoped he would forgive her that she was beginning to fall for her work partner, even under such awful circumstances.

The brunette simply couldn't help it. He gave her butterflies like she hadn't had in years. Sometimes, she thought they were stronger than the ones she used to get when she was with Ron, but that was something she couldn't be sure of. Either way, she couldn't help what she was starting to feel for Draco.

* * *

Going back to the home she shared with Ron was a bit unnerving, but she felt a hair more comfortable knowing she wasn't in the structure all alone. That morning before they departed to do some research he stacked the pieces of paper they had collected from Lavender's home on the table in her bedroom, saying that they could look through them together when they returned. That made her a bit excited at least; she felt that there was something important buried beneath the pages there.

Draco told her that morning that his emergency owl was returned in record time from the manager of the departments. He seemed skeptical that Theo had anything to do with murder, but nonetheless gave Draco permission and a signed slip to investigate, stating that his next appointment was that afternoon. Hermione thought they would have a bit more time than that before they had to go looking, but couldn't say that she was apprehensive about it. The manager was helping them out and they would get more information in record time, which was good. It also set up a timeframe for how long they could actually be at her home, and that eased her mind a hair.

He was certain that the manager granted them permission to look through Theo's office because he wanted them to see that there was nothing up with Nott. Hermione planned to prove that man wrong completely.

But for the time being she had something else to focus on, like the raging emotions inside of her that appeared as she stepped into her old home. She thought of it as the old home now, for she knew that she would never be able to live there again. A few days away made her feel lighter, less burdened. She didn't want her children growing up in the same home where their father died. After being gone for a bit, she knew she would have to move when this was all over. She would come and collect everything when it started to hurt less, and take her children and move away to some place far away, perhaps on the other side of London, where they would be away from all the pain.

Or maybe it was just the presence of Draco that eased her scarred soul. She wasn't quite sure.

They began in the living room, staying away from things that were too personal at first. As decided before they did not go anywhere near the basement door and Draco even offered to search that side of the room. She knew it was silly, but that actually brought comfort to her in a way. He was nowhere near as effected by this place as she was for obvious reasons, and was willing to search the areas that were harder for her. Although she knew they could be looking for anything, they both and an unspoken goal in mind; finding the blue notes.

The letter found in Draco's office was placed there by someone, written between Lavender and Ron. Some blue letters turned up at Lavender's, so there was a possibility that they already found the notes, but since they were holding off on reading them until later, they couldn't be sure. She knew that it was kind of foolish to do on their part, but it comforted her a hair to not have read them yet. She might feel even more uncomfortable in her home if she read a bunch of sick love letters between Ron and Lavender before arriving.

Nothing was really discovered that hadn't already been uncovered down there, and they quickly climbed the stairs. Hermione made a detour as the blonde searched the guest room, wandering through her children's bedrooms briefly. Ron had been such a good parent, playing with both of them in there. Hugo and Ron would play at night, and then he would read Rose a bedtime story, when he was around. Rose had memories of the place, and although she was young Hermione felt bad that she was going to pull the young child away from this place. But wandering through them, she knew she couldn't live in this house anymore.

They checked the office and bathroom upstairs, avoiding the one room that got Hermione's heart cracking whenever they got too close to it. He could only imagine how she would be when they were actually inside, and wondered if he should maybe go looking alone. Hermione was pretty quick to shoot down that idea.

"I need to go in there," she said, sounding a bit shaky. "I need to see it again. I need to be able to be in that room… touch his things,"

Draco thought she might be pushing herself a bit far, but didn't argue again as they entered the bedroom. It was still torn up, with the same crude words written on the window. She drew closer to him in the room, resting her head against his shoulder. Although he found this odd, having suspected that she would move away from him, he didn't protest and hugged her to him. Weasley couldn't comfort her now, but he sure as hell wasn't going to pass up the opportunity.

"You're always welcome to leave the room," he muttered, pulling out his wand so he could start moving things around without forcing the woman to let go. For several minutes he worked like that, holding her to him with one arm while he used his wand with the other to open drawers and move things around, searching for clues as he comforted her. At length, she pulled away and he briefly stopped.

"I'm fine," she muttered, slowly wandering to her side of the room. "I know these are my things, but someone was in here and could've left something behind. If… if you would start on Ron's things…"

"I was already planning to," he reminded, starting to look through things by hand, which was actually faster. He unsurprisingly moved faster than she did, shifting through things at a quicker pace, but at least as she looked through her own things she didn't seem disturbed by anything. So long as she didn't burst out in tears and start weeping at the situation he would take it.

Peering through a drawer of shirts, he almost missed something important. Hiding inside one of the shirt pockets was something blue, and he almost passed over it had he not shifted back through that particular stack, finding the pieces of blue on the return trip, where they were beginning to fall out. He quickly removed the shirt and set it aside, staring at the blue slips of paper before him. Unfolding one, he frowned.

"Hermione," he said, searching the rest of the drawer quickly before he turned to face the woman, who stood on her side of the room, watching him intently as he walked towards her. "Here, sit on the bed."

She hesitated only a moment before sitting on the mattress beside him, eyes widening as she saw the blue slips of paper. "Are those…"

"They're letters between Lavender and your husband," he muttered, clasping the pieces of paper in his hands. He could feel her stiffening beside him dread filling her as she stared at a large stack of the horrible notes. Slowly, she reached out and took one, opening it as she brought it closer. He leaned over towards her, deciding to play it safe and read along with her, in case it got to her and she lost her mind.

_Lavender~_

_I do miss you as well. It's been a long time since we've seen each other, but Hermione just had Hugo and I wanted to spend a lot of time with him for the first few weeks. I won't visit you long this time, just one night, so we'll need so make it last. I miss you darling, and if I could spend more of my time with you I certainly would._

_I think you were right about what you said. Hermione was- and is- my school-sweetheart. She's the first girl I was smitten with. My parents, siblings, and Harry wanted me to marry her. Her parents thought we were going to, and I think along the way we forgot to decide for ourselves and got married because everyone else thought we should. I don't know if I would say that I stopped loving her or anything silly, but I don't feel the same heat I do with you. Really, we were both the first major relationship for each other. She gave herself to Krum in fourth year, and I gave myself to you in sixth, but overall we both never dated anyone else very long. We got into a relationship with no real expectations after the war, and in the aftermath we married like all the other young couples in Britain. We never really gave each other time to figure out if we were a match made in Heaven or not. _

_I do love Hermione, but not the way I love you. I know she'd be devastated if she discovered what we do together, for she's too pure to cheat, but sometimes, Merlin sometimes I wish she would. I found a fire with you that I've never felt before, and I think maybe if she followed her heart instead of what our families told us, we'd both be with very different people. We tied the knot early, and that cut off any opportunities to be with other people. That's the only regret I have with her though Lavender, that we didn't give it time. _

_But I have a family with her and not with you, so she will continue to receive the bulk of my attention. I know that you disagree with this, but it's how things must be. I have two children with Hermione, two amazing children, and they need their father in life. I know Lav, I want to spend more time with you as well, but it can't be done. We have a family, something that's very important to me. If we had a family, things would be different. I'd have to live up to the both of you, and provide for all of you. But we don't have a family, and that's the sad thing. My time with you will continue to shrink as the children get older and Hermione needs me to become more involved in their lives._

_I'm sorry Lavender. I love you, I do-_

There was more to the note, but she stopped reading, pushing it away so she could rest her head on her knees, feeling the sobs work their way up through her body to escape her mouth. She dropped the letter, giving into the tears inside, and hugged herself. She could feel the man beside her shifting, and a moment later she was being shift and placed against him, her body now draped over his, with her head on his chest. She adjusted and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying against his shoulder.

"It's okay Hermione," he said soothingly, rubbing her back. "It's okay."

But he didn't know why she was crying, not really. He thought she was devastated, that she was torn apart by what the note said, but the reality of it was that she was indeed sad, and hurt, and upset, but not in the way he was probably thinking. The words were devastating, to see him literally corresponding with someone and speaking of their relationship as lukewarm, but she couldn't really argue with his statements. Attempting to compose herself, she pulled away and sat up in his lap, letting his hand still soothe her back.

"Thank you," she said quietly, sniffling.

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You don't need to do that. It's the human thing to comfort people when their sad."

"But I'm not sad," she said, staring at the fallen note. "I mean, I am, but not how you're thinking I'm sad."

"Then how are you sad?" he asked, having read the entire note over her shoulder. Considering the ending, he was wondering if she'd gotten that far. Oh well, he wouldn't bring it up just then.

She shook her head, resting it back against his shoulder again. "It's true, what he said. It's true about our relationship. We rushed into things and got married because everyone said we should. He didn't propose to me, he just said we should one day and I agreed. That was it." She sniffled, burying her face against his shoulder briefly, finding comfort there as he continued to stroke her back.

"Did you love him?" he asked, unable to keep from asking. Curiosity got the best of him.

She pulled back again so he could understand her, wiping her eyes again. "I think I did when we were younger, during school. After the war, people were looking for human connections, you know, getting excited because the war was over. His parents were super excited about us being together because we made them happy, and they had just lost a son. It was almost expected that we get married, and so we did. It wasn't loveless or anything, because I did and still do love Ron. He had his flaws- some of them being major- but everyone does. He treated me right, at least from what I knew. I just don't think it was true love, because he's right, there was no passion. We were children when we fell in love, and we were still children when he died. We loved each other like children do, not like lovers."

Draco nodded, still rubbing her back. "A lot of people got married too early Hermione. I know a lot of people that regretted getting married young."

"I don't regret it," she said quietly, and he could see the tears forming again. "He gave me a nice life for several years, even if it's been fake for a while. And he gave me two lovely children that I simply adore. I just wish maybe we had gone slower, talked about this more. He was right, I think that if we took our time and didn't rush into things, we would've ended up with different people."

"I see," he agreed, not quite certain what he should say. She said nothing more after that, and simply rested her head against hers. It was nice to sit like that, with her on his lap, leaning against his body. It was comfortable, but he knew it couldn't last, and the thoughts plaguing his mind were shoved back. He desperately wanted to do something to her, but decided against it in that moment, when she was vulnerable. He would certainly do it now, knowing her mindset, but when she had her wits about her more, when she would likely respond. He thought right now that he might just startle her.

No matter though. He knew her mindset on her relationship now though, and could see the gears in her head turning. She may have loved him, but she was finally seeing the flaws of her relationship. And now that he was certain that she wouldn't panic if he did, Draco intended to steal a kiss from her, perhaps even by later that night.

"Did you read to the end of that note?" he asked smoothly, switching topics now. He couldn't focus on kisses now; else he was going to kiss her. She glanced his way, having also been lost in thought for a moment and shook her head, glancing down a second later.

"I got to where he says I love you, and then I stopped. I panicked for a moment."

Nodding, he bent over and grabbed the paper, careful to not jar her either. "You may want to. There's something interesting at the bottom.

Frowning, she took the note back and found her place, continuing to read and see just what had caught his interest.

_I'm sorry Lavender. I love you, I do, but we should be more careful for a while. After this coming night when we meet, don't owl for about two weeks. I think someone is watching us again. If you think something is seriously wrong, have Cho come see you again. I know that you've done that a few times._

_Don't worry love, he won't bother you again. I won't let him. If he doesn't fuck off soon, I'll deal with him. I may not be able to be with you all the time, but I can still protect you. Let me know if you feel like you're still being watched, and definitely have Cho come visit if you get concerned about anything. He won't strike with the two of you there._

_Still darling, I think you should report him to the Ministry. He'd lose his job. I know if he doesn't cut it out I will. But Hermione is stirring beside me, and I best be going. Goodnight my sweet._

_~Ron_

She looked at Draco, who was giving her the same look. "He knew that Cho and Lavender were friends."

"And he knew that someone was following her, someone how may have known that Cho was helping out. The killer might just be the person mentioned in this note."

"An ex-boyfriend perhaps," she muttered, thinking of all the cliché movies she'd ever seen in her lifetime. And then it clicked. "Lavender said she dated Theo! Now we have proof!"

"We have an idea," he pointed out, knowing she was onto something. "We might find a motive after investigating his office though. It does seem though that things aren't working in his favor though, hmm?"

"Yes," she said, standing quickly. "But one thing gets me."

"Hmm?"

"We have the notes between Ron and Lavender here," she said, checking to see if the response notes were there as well. "Someone grouped these together for some reason, which is odd. Usually the letters stay with the senders."

"Good point," he agreed, but she wasn't done.

"So I'm curious then," she said, picking up the stack, "If we have the letters between Ron and Lavender here, then are the notes between them also at your house as well, or is that a different set of notes entirely?"

Draco saw her point and frowned. Well, he'd never really thought of that.

* * *

**A/n: **New chapter! It's a day late (woops) but I've been upper busy with work ;P But it's here now, and that's all that matters, right? We're getting close to the end! There's also a good chance of a kiss next chapter. So keep those reviews up and maybe I'll try to get another chapter out before Saturday. We'll see!

About four-ish chapters to go. Want to leave a review?


	16. And Just Walked Away

**A/n:** Thanks to my beta **Morbidkitten2**! **not yet edited.

* * *

**And Just Walked Away**

Reading the letters at Malfoy Manor ended up being put off when the two returned to his home. They arrived in his office quickly, deciding to say hello to their children in a bit at the excitement of reading the notes. Everything was halted though when they noticed a mail owl perched outside the office window, as though it was expecting them to arrive soon. For a moment, they both thought it was another threat, and Draco cursed. Closer inspection though once the bird was in the room though proved that theory incorrect.

It had the seal of St. Mungo's tied to its leg, and immediately the meaning behind the note changed entirely. Ripping it open, the pair read together that Lavender and- luckily- her baby had survived the attack and requested an audience with them. It was surprising to read that, since Hermione could list several people the woman should want to have visit her before them. Nonetheless though, she was insistent on the matter, even pointing out that since they were investigators their visitation access stretched whenever, instead of just inside the set visitation hours. Eager to see what Lavender had to say, Hermione decided they should visit that very night.

"She might be asleep," the blonde reminded her, watching her gather the evidence, including the notes and letters they hadn't opened. "It might be better for us to read those in tonight and visit in the morning."

"I don't want to wait that long," she said, turning to grab his arms. "Draco, she _saw_ the person that killed my husband! She might be able to tell us who!"

He could see the eagerness in her eyes, but worried that her joy was present for the wrong reasons. Sure, there was a possibility that Lavender might remember the attack, but even if she did, there would still need to be an interrogation and some physical facts set up before a trial could take place. Even under a truth serum people were apprehensive about what people testified towards sometimes. And for Hermione, he knew that no matter who the killer turned out to be, it was going to ignite a fire within that brought on a bout of anger. He didn't want her rushing to find Lavender just to become incredibly angry. But she didn't see it that way; she had her eye on the prize, and it scared him a bit for her sake. She was very into the case at this point, but her emotional attachments to the deceased troubled him. He wondered if that would get in the way in the end.

But there was no stopping this woman, and he knew she wouldn't be pleased until they spoke to Lavender. Regretibly, he agreed that they would go and interrogate her at St. Mungo's, though he wasn't sure how the staff would take that. Honestly, he thought she was rushing things now that she had a slight lead towards discovering the killer. He hoped it didn't impair her judgment.

"Thank you Draco!" she cried eagerly, throwing her arms around him! "I just knew that you'd see how brilliant this is!"

"Yes, brilliant," he muttered, following her towards the door. If he was truthful with himself though, he thought this entire idea was going to be bad on them.

* * *

Lavender seemed dazed when they finally got past the Healers, all of who seemingly did not even know that she had owled anything to them. When they finally did get into the room, she ignored them for many minutes as she stared into space, before she burst out crying.

A quick set of questions proved to them- much to Hermione's disdain- that she had no recollection of her attack. The brunette was more than a bit disappointed. She had really hoped that Brown would remember something, considering that the attacker seemed more focused on killing than swiping memories. Either her memories of the attack were obliviated, or the trauma from it all caused her to forget. No matter what the reason was, the possibility of knowing who the killer was quickly was gone. And she was disappointed to say the least.

"You don't remember anything?" Hermione pressed, and again Lavender shook her head, which was covered with a bandage on one side. She cradled her stomach, as though she was still afraid that the baby was dead. But tests already proved that the unborn child was fine, so she needn't worry so. "Do you recall what you were doing beforehand?"

"Hermione," Draco warned, grabbing her arm lightly. He meant to pull her back, afraid that the emotional witch might dig too deep, but was cut off as Lavender responded, rather calmly in fact.

"I was putting away a letter," she said calmly, looking between the two people before her. "I've received letters for months now from Theo, and I rightly refuse to open them. The contents are never good."

"Have you ever opened any? What did he used to send you?" Hermione's mind flipped gears, interested now in the topic of Draco's boss. She'd been pushing going to investigate him for a while now, and maybe if Lavender reported something fishy they'd have even more of a reason to do some digging.

Now though, Brown looked apprehensive. "They're just letters, that's all I'm sure. Like I said, I don't open them, but I doubt there's anything interesting in there. Remember, I said that we used to date? It's probably sappy love-letters asking me to return to him."

Hermione made a face, unable to picture Theo as a sappy anything. The woman seemed nervous now that the topic was turning to specifics, and she wondered if perhaps the pregnant woman had a secret to hide. "Were the letters unmarked?"

"Yes," she replied, looking between the two, hesitation lingering in her voice. "Again, I'm sure they're nothing. It's a waste of your time to bother with them."

"We picked some envelopes like that up while investigating your home," Draco said, stepping in. "Under the court of law, they were apprehended during an investigation- the investigation of your attack and near death experience- and will be treated as evidence as with everything and _anything_ else collected. It's our job, mine in specific, to look over pieces of evidence like that thoroughly. That includes reading anything taken that seems suspicious, in case it can give us a lead. A stack of sealed, unlabeled envelopes is not very inconspicuous."

She was upright in her bed in a moment, her eyes large. "You can't do that! My rights-"

"Are that anything within your procession cannot be taken without a valid need," he pointed out, moving around Hermione to pull up a chair and sit directly next to her. "I took things that seemed suspicious, threatening, or otherwise. If you have no involvement in the murders Lavender, if you are a victim and not a criminal, then the incriminating evidence that might be found against you is not as harsh as it could be. If you're openly ignoring valid clues though, that makes you an accessory. By not turning in something incriminating, you're helping the killer. And I'm supposing that the killer is the only one who would bother trying to end your life."

"You don't know anything Malfoy," she spat, venom lingering in her voice for the first time in a while. "I have rights and you can't just take things at will! If they don't pertain to the case then you don't have a right to take them!"

"If they don't then I will return those items to you, no questions asked," he agreed, locking his eyes with hers. "But if there are clues hidden within the papers, the belongings that we took, then laws won't protect you from your own personal flaws. Like I said, if you're a victim you won't suffer at the hands of the government, but if you're an accessory then punishments will be dealt out, pregnant or not."

The woman grew silent, glaring at the man with hatred in her eyes. Hermione could see the anxiety poorly hidden behind the flames in her pupils, and knew that the woman was hiding something, probably something important. She desperately wanted to jump on that, force the unspoken answers out of her, but she restrained herself as best possible. Draco was getting to her more than she had, and begrudgingly the woman sat back and watched the two speak. If he could crack through her hard exterior, then Hermione was going to have to leave him to it. It was better to figure things out than to lose her bearings and yell again, possibly destroying all his progress in getting Lavender to snap and say something.

"No one is going to protect you if you're a criminal Lavender," he said, leaning a bit closer to her. "No one. Not the law, not really, not your family or your friends or that prior lover of yours, Theo. No one will protect you; no one will be able to do anything." He reached forward, poking her just below the neck. "Except me. I'm rich, powerful, and I'm a smooth talker. You tell me whatever it is you're hiding, and maybe I'll be able to keep you and that kid of yours out of Azkaban. They won't let you off scot-free just because you're with child. You know that."

"I have nothing to hide," she said, speaking through gritted teeth.

"Then you shouldn't be concerned about what was taken," he replied, relaxing in his seat. "If you have nothing bad hiding in those envelopes, then there shouldn't be a problem with us looking at things. Everything will be returned when we are finished with our search."

She said nothing, glowering at the two. Hermione expected him to keep going, to push her until she snapped, but to her surprise- and slight disappointment- he shrugged his shoulders and stood, replacing the chair against the wall.

"Suit yourself, keep your secrets," he said, wandering towards the door, grabbing Hermione's hand on the way. "That's fine. But remember, my offer still stands. If you think of anything that you might've forgotten during this conversation, send me an owl. It could benefit you in the end."

Lavender refused to reply to that, and the blonde left without a backwards glance, pulling Hermione along. When they were several doors down she stopped him, stepping in front of him with wide eyes.

"Are you crazy!?" she hissed, keeping her voice down as they were in a public place. "She was going to break if you kept going, we both know it! How could you just turn your back like that!? Now it'll take forever to get her emotions back up to a breaking point again!"

He pat her shoulder, grinning slightly. "Don't worry Hermione, I'm not jeopardizing anything. I'm merely giving her time to weigh her options and decide what's the best for her future, as well as her child's. And I think we both know which way she will lean in the end. Sometimes, time is the best tormentor you have. This gives her the opportunity to think, and overthink things and come to a rational conclusion. I'm expecting to hear from her by tomorrow at the latest."

"And what if she doesn't owl you?" the brunette asked, though her voice wasn't as full of fire as it was moments before. Naturally, he'd thought of this possibility, whereas she was still hell-bent on finding a solution and some answers as soon as possible. It was understandable, considering how different their situations were in the situation, but still. She didn't want to admit that she hadn't thought things through all too much.

"Then we deal with it tomorrow," he replied, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as he propelled them forward again. People gave them strange looks as they passed through the halls, seemingly unsure how to respond to the odd picture, but Hermione didn't really notice. Her mind was now too focused in on those letters and notes back at his Manor, the ones that might lead them to some clues, or even better yet, the killer.

She didn't respond to his words, and let him guide them back towards the floo as though they were a couple. Her mind was too focused on her new hope now, the hope that those unmarked envelopes held answers to her undying questions.

* * *

"According to Tony," Draco said, sitting in his office with Hermione later, "The fabric is off of some expensive jacket, made of black cloth that is supposed to reflect liquid off the surface. He thinks that the killer was wearing this the day of the attack on Lavender- and probably on the other two victims- to avoid getting noticeable blood on his clothing."

"Logical," Hermione replied, though she was kind of bored with the topic. Arriving back to his Manor, they were greeted by the children, who they made unchangeable plans with to dine with for dinner. "And expensive. Could be Theo."

He rolled his eyes, scanning the report some more. "I knew once I mentioned that you would bring him up. I have a letter about our permit to search his office right here, I'm just avoiding opening it until we're finished reading this one or I fear that you'll never let me finish this." She pouted, and he continued to scroll through the letter. "Ah, yes. The blood on the knife came back as A positive."

Her heart stopped, and Draco watched as she slowly leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk, gripping her head. "That's the type of blood Ron had," she whispered.

"I know," he replied grimly, knowing she was probably panicking more so than before. The knife they found at Lavender's was coated in the same type of blood that her late husband had, that the fucking woman was sleeping with. Ron's blood could be on that blade!

"And… what type of blood did Cho have?"

"O," he said, watching her face drop. "There might've been a different blade of the same kind used to kill Cho, but her blood isn't on the knife. Both victims were tortured with a muggle blade Hermione. It's possible that there's a second identical blade with the real killer."

"You don't think Lavender's the killer?" she whispered, looking at the wood of his desk. Her mind was swimming.

"You don't think she's the killer," he reminded, setting the letter aside. "But I'm pretty sure she's connected to whoever it is. I mean, she's hiding bloody knives in her home! But I don't think she is the killer because she didn't know that Chang was dead until you reported it, and the emotions she had then were real. Plus, she was attacked and we saw someone leave here. It's not Brown, don't just to that conclusion Hermione."

"But she's involved," the brunette said, shaking her head. "She's involved and she still refuses to reveal anything after everything!"

"Or someone is trying to frame her."

"No one's trying to do that!" Hermione screamed, throwing her hands up. "No one! She is scared of these fucking letters because she thinks we're going to figure something out!" she continued, snatching up the first letter. "Well you know what? I'm ready it; fuck this. I'm tired of uncovering clues and having no answers! The answers could be right here, and we're just ignoring them because we're preoccupied elsewhere. Well I'm done with it! If we don't look at these letters now we're never going to." She tore the letter open before he could respond, carelessly dropping her wand in the process. Draco was on his feet in a moment, making his way towards her.

"Don't go digging where it's going to hurt," he warned, fearful of what the forsaken notes might reveal. He got close to her but she scurried away, glancing up at him with livid eyes.

"Stop trying to shelter me! I am not a child! I am just a widow trying to figure out who killed me husband." Her voice broke at the end of her sentence, and reluctantly he took a step back. It was incredibly important to her for her to read those letters, and he needed to stop standing in the way of it. Emotionally he wasn't sure she could take it if there really was anything terrible within the manila pages, but she wasn't going to just let him take it away. Minding his distance, he monitored her face, and half a second she fell forward onto what he supposed should be her knees, but he was close in an instant, catching her in his arms before she got close to the floor, and carefully sat the both of them down. When he finally looked back up at her, her eyes were buldging and she almost appeared to tremble.

"Hermione? What is it? What's wrong?" When she refused to respond he attempted to pry the note from her hands, and was surprised that it came so easily. He flipped the page over quickly, surprised to see that the note was rather short.

_I saw you with him today again, that Weasley boy. He's with his wife still, no? It's low even for you to sink down to a married man darling, it really is. I'd suggest keeping your distance from him though, for all things that you're attached to seem to disappear, don't they? And you wouldn't want to be the cause of a death, now would you? Be careful my darling, you know how dangerous the waters are. Why you insist on playing in them instead of just coming back to safety escapes me, but I must admit that it's endearing. Don't fret dearest, I know you will come to your senses soon._

The letter was not addressed to anyone, nor was it signed, but it was pretty obvious who it was intended for. His eyes flashed, and quickly he set the note aside, moving to pull the woman against him. Alarm bells went off in his mind as he pulled her to him, resting against him as she shook.

The sender mentioned Ron, and killing, and this was only letter one. These unopened little envelopes, these messages, were likely related to the murders. The sender was telling Brown beforehand that Weasley was going to die, and because she neglected to open an envelope for whatever reason, the result was death. He very well knew that it wouldn't be the only cause of death, but nonetheless couldn't shrug that bit of information off. A single report of the threatening letters to the Ministry might've saved one, perhaps two lives. And because she didn't open the notes, she didn't know.

Or, maybe she did, and she was trying to hide from the fact. His mind was reeling at the information, but he didn't allow himself to dwell on it just then, not when he had a panicking woman in his arms. Adjusting his hold, he began to stroke her back, making a _shh_ sound in her ear.

It didn't really calm her down at all, but the shakes lessoned by a degree. Gathering Hermione up in his arms, he lifted her and sat her on the nearby couch, conveniently there for whenever he had a casual business meeting.

"Breathe," he said, crouching before her as she ducked her head, taking uneven deep breaths. "It's just words on paper, okay? We have to read more to really find out the implication. Don't panic on me yet." Draco knew she wasn't exactly listening to him at that moment as she tried to regain control of her emotions, but he wanted to soothe her. The topic was sensitive, and although he wished she wouldn't wallow quite so much on a man that was gone, he was helpless to do anything about it. She was the one who had to overcome her grief.

Switching positions, he sat beside her, and before he really got his bearings about him she threw her arms around his neck, hugging the man again. Sinking back into the sofa, he pats her back as she calmed herself. Shamelessly, he felt happy that he was the one she wanted to hug for comfort. For some reason, it made him feel good.

It of course had nothing to do with the fact that she was a warm-blooded woman living in his home, catching his attention and occasionally kissing his cheeks. It of course had absolutely nothing to do with how sweet and determined she could be, or how splendidly wonderful she was with children. It didn't have anything to do with how lovely her body was, or how it fit so comfortably against his own frame. It of course had nothing to do with his raging emotions for her.

Draco told her time and time again while working that case to keep her emotions in check. Yet for the past few weeks, he'd been the one failing to keep his own in order. It didn't have to do with the case though, and he certainly never let the emotions show outside of his Manor, or even inside the safe building really. Except earlier that day, when he held her against his body on their departure from St. Mungo's. Maybe that hold had been a bit too attentive for business partners.

But damn it all, he didn't necessarily want to keep his emotions in check. And so far, he had done so only to keep from scaring that lovely woman. She was too emotionally tied to her late-husband still to think about another man, and he very well knew that. She simply did not know what she was doing to him.

And having her slim form pressed against his side really wasn't helping matters. More than anything he wanted to kiss her pain away, and make her feel good and warm again. She was nothing like his former wife; there was light and life in her where only ice existed in Astoria. He only wished he could ignite that light into fire, a burning desire for him, but that was pushing things. She needed her space, her time to mourn, and he tried to accept that, but damn was it hard.

"Thank you," she muttered, drawing him from his thoughts as she pulled away. He straightened beside her, watching the girl with steady eyes as she swiped at her cheeks, and he realized she'd been crying. He cursed himself beneath his breath, unhappy that he had been so oblivious to her obvious pain over the subject.

Reaching out an arm, he soothed it over her back. "Hermione," he said, scooting a hint closer as she looked up. Their faces were just inches apart, their lips very close together. It was the closest he had been to her since the day she kissed his cheek; a gesture out of gratitude and not lust. They both looked rather unsure about what to do, now that they were so close again. It would be so simple to merely turn or look away, but neither of them did. They kept their eyes locked together.

And then he did it, moved forward without thinking, that desperate fleet of emotions inside of him taking charge. He gently gripped the back of her head, kissing her tenderly but powerfully as he closed the short space between them, causing her to gasp at the action. Her surprise only lasted a moment though, and then she was returning the gesture.

It took his mind several moments to realize what was happening, and he quickly pulled away from her, standing from the sofa as he released his grip on her. Puzzled, Hermione looked up, confused by the mixed messages he was sending.

He traced his lips with both fingers, replaying the brief moment in his head. Fuck it, that was pure bliss just then, and he just had to go and ruin it. But his subconscious fought for dominance, reminding him that she was still emotionally conflicted and that he should back away, and not push himself on her, no matter how deliciously she responded to his kiss. He couldn't put more on her plate to consider, not at the moment.

Too bad he already had.

"I'm sorry," he said, refusing to look at her, not entirely certain why he reacted that way, much less how he was feeling. Clearing his throat, he made to say something else, but could think of nothing, and instead turned and bolted from the room, leaving everything they were in the middle of in a pile on the floor. And on the seat of the sofa Hermione stared after him, her eyes wide. Why would he run away so quickly, after kissing her in such a way that she finally felt whole again?

She didn't understand. If he was the one who initiated it, then didn't he _want_ to kiss her?

* * *

**A/n:** Awe, a kiss. And now Draco's emotionally stressed. Want to poke a review this way? Go ahead! This has maybe four chapters to go!


	17. Secret at the Grave

**A/n: **Hi again! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter! Thanks again to my beta **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

* * *

_And left the_

**Secret at the Grave**

Hermione remained behind in the office once Draco ran away, needing to think things over. She skipped over Tony's analysis of things, opening the second letter, and discovered that their request to investigate Nott's office had been granted. If the blonde was still in the room, she probably would've hugged him. She was certainly excited now; this was exactly what they needed.

Before she left the office, an owl appeared at the window, with a letter addressed to Draco. Apparently, all of his mail was expected to arrive there. Girly handwriting adorned the front of an envelope, and she could only think that this had to be the penmanship of his ex-wife. After all, the script was extremely girly, and that's exactly what Astoria was. Whatever she wanted wasn't Hermione's concern, or at least she tried to tell herself that, as she tossed it back on his desk. After the blonde's sudden departure, she wasn't fully sure how he would take it if she went around and read his private mail. That could potentially cause a rift between them.

She took the letters from Lavender's home with her before leaving the office- both the blue notes and unopened letters- and set a plan forth to read the letters at her earliest convenience. It was probably a stupid choice to read them alone when the first one tore her up so much, but Draco was otherwise occupied with his own thoughts, and she didn't think he would be returning for anymore letters that night. So she planned to read them. They were, after all, quite possibly the most useful thing that had picked up yet.

* * *

When Draco found her, it wasn't under the best conditions. He'd finally returned towards his bedroom after wandering the Manor once supper finished, needing to clear his head after the kiss. He was too concerned with how he affected her, and hoped that he really hadn't fucked things up. Passing her room, he thought he heard stifled cries, and his heart tightened.

_There now, you've really messed her head up. See what happens when you don't wait?_

He felt bad about upsetting the woman, and paused to lean against the outside of her door. Never had it been his intention to scare her by moving too fast while she still needed to grieve, and he knew that kiss he planted on her was going to upset her mind. He felt like a bastard. But standing there outside the door, he knew he couldn't just leave her to her thoughts. He needed to go and talk to her, and set the record straight. She needed to know that he wasn't pushing anything that he was just fine waiting until she thought she was ready for a relationship. He didn't want to put even more on her plate than she already had to handle.

Taking a breath he knocked on the door, and briefly the cries from within subsided. Half a moment later the door opened, revealing the woman on the other side. Her face was striped with tears, her eyes red from crying.

"Oh, Draco, hello," she said wiping at her cheeks. "What brings you here?"

He could hear the strain in her voice, the barely contained emotions as she looked up at him with those large, brown eyes. Clearing his throat, he watched her. "Can I come in? I wanted to talk."

"Oh, yes, of course," she replied, stepping back so he could enter. The room was mostly dark, save for the candles burning near her bed and the light by the table in the center of the room. The door to Hugo's room was ajar, so she could hear if anything was amiss. "What did you want to talk about?"

Draco didn't respond at first, making his way across the room to the table, where something had caught his eye. Little blue papers, all opened and then crumbled up, sat around the table, multiple empty envelopes cluttering one side of the object. In the middle of the table sat an array of letters, all opened and staring up at them, the words a jumble in the mess. His eyes snapped up to look at her.

"You took the evidence," he said dully, stating a fact. "Have you been reading these all alone?"

She shrugged, hugging her sweater to her body as she stepped up beside him, sinking into the sofa. He sat beside her, watching the woman intently as she placed a hand over her mouth, stifling a cry, and she took a moment to try and compose herself before she spoke. "These are terrible."

"Why are you reading these alone? You should've waited for me Hermione; we would've read them together. You're going to-"

"I know," she cut in quietly, slowly pulling her hand away, "I'm just going to make it hurt more. But Draco, these notes… the letters… my god, she was so blind."

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked, narrowing his eyes. "Why do you say that?"

Hermione shook her head, pulling her hair back from her face with trembling hands, taking a moment to compose herself before speaking. "If she wasn't so stubborn Draco, if she didn't ignore her mail, they would be alive."

His eyes flashed, and without really looking he reached forward and snatched up a letter, scanning through the contents quickly. She rested her head in her hands, hiding her face from him as he did so.

The blonde's eyes widened and he threw the letter back down on the table, grabbing Hermione as he yanked her around to look at him. "She knew."

"I don't know," the woman replied, looking at her hands. "I was reading through the notes, all of them, and although it hurt, I came to a realization…" her voice trailed off, and it was several moments before she spoke again. "Draco, it is Nott. Look at the notes."

She bent forward, snatching up one of the crumbled blue pages from the floor, opening it carefully. She didn't really know which one she was picking up, simply that any of them would get her point across. Shoving it into his hands she stood, pacing the room as his eyes scanned the notes she had already gone through, her horrors growing with every note. When he finished, he sat back against the sofa, rubbing his temples.

"You think she knew?" he asked, the note he'd read having discussed that Nott was unhappy about something, and that he didn't think she was serious about Weasley. He wanted her to leave him. "Do you think she knew he was going to kill people?"

"Yes," Hermione said quietly, keeping her distance. "I've read every letter save one, and it's only because I needed a break. Draco, she's not innocent. Neither of them are."

He took a breath before lowering his hands, extending an arm towards her. "Sit love, we need to talk." Without hesitation, she walked forward and grabbed hold, allowing him to pull her down to sit beside him. He sat there simply rubbing her arm for many moments before speaking again. "What exactly did you discover from those letters Hermione- facts, not opinions. We need to know if anything beneficial has come from you reading all of that."

She hesitated a moment. "I don't know every single detail yet, but something happened to break up their relationship- Nott's and Lavender's- and it wasn't just fights. Something bad happened, but it's as though it was forbidden to talk about. They never mention this supposed even outright. But it put a rift between them… and somehow, he figured out she was seeing Ron. It made him mad, and I guess that's when the threats started."

Draco squeezed her arm encouraged. "Go on."

"She mentioned at some point in the papers, the blue ones that she might be pregnant, and I think that's when these started." She pointed towards the manila envelopes. "The topics merge together after one of the blue notes, and I think these manila ones, the threats, started after she pissed him off. He seemingly expected she would come back, and she never did."

The brunette pursed her lips, looking down at her lap. "The manila envelopes are threats. In the first… according to the stack as it was… the first explain that her _lover boy_ might meet a tragic end if she didn't start to comply. She never read it Draco. She had evidence, clues, that might've stopped a murder right beneath her nose, and she ignored them."

He nodded, kissing her temple. She looked like she needed the comfort as she continued on.

"The next letter was again a threat, saying that the same events might repeat if she didn't stop it now. Stop what, I'm not entirely certain. Maybe the pregnancy. Maybe something else. Again, this note wasn't opened. But the third is far more interesting. When I opened it, I noticed that it was quite easy compared to the others, meaning that the seal had originally been broken and then resealed. She read that one."

"And what exactly did that one entail?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.

"It talked about him killing Chang. He said that if she wanted to prevent it, she should go to the address and confront him. It's the same address for the building she died in, for the one that we found Lavender lingering around outside." Her voice broke. "She knew. And for whatever reason, they're dead because of her."

He wanted to say that they were both at fault here, but held his tongue. If Lavender opened the letters, received threats before opening the one about Cho, then she would be held accountable for her crimes, as Draco predicted just yesterday. She withheld information for one reason or another, and when the truth came out, that would be something that went against her in the courts.

"Look, can you gather together all the notes again in order? Once I receive a letter to search Nott's-"

"You already got the letter of approval," she said, keeping her eyes down. "I may have read that earlier."

"Oh good, that means that I don't need to go searching for it. I'll help you get things in order Hermione, but then you really must rest. We'll have to and confront him tomorrow and at least get him arrested, and then we can do some snooping. We have the grounds now to at least keep him in custody."

She nodded looking away. He could tell that although this was what she'd wanted for days now, for Nott to be arrested, that the reality of things was weighing her down. After all, she had just read through a series of letters that mentioned her husband's death that were sent between two people she had a burning hate for. Of course she wouldn't be completely happy, not with the situation being like that. He wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, drawing her back against him. Perhaps she hadn't been crying over his break in willpower earlier when they kissed, but she might still be hesitant around him. He hoped not.

"It'll be okay," he whispered, speaking into the skin on her neck. "We'll sort things out, and I'll respond to our confirmation tonight so he knows that we are going to arrest him. We might call in some Aurors."

"No," she said quickly, dashing away the logical idea he put forward. It made sense for them to be cautious, but she didn't want to have anyone else around when they went to see Nott. "No. I want it to be just the three of us. I have questions for him Draco, questions I want answered. I don't know if I can contain myself, and I don't want some Aurors standing behind us watching me lose it."

He kissed her neck. "We should technically keep all questions until we get him to an interrogation room. If he honestly is the killer Hermione, we want to keep our guards up. He's killed before, and he might see that as an opportunity to kill again if we enter into that room alone. We have to be safe."

"We also have to commit to the case and get answers," she reminded, twisting in his arms to look at him. "I believe he's the killer Draco, I do. He killed my husband. He owes me answers, and I think I've waited long enough. I can't just keep going without some sort of confirmation that I'm going to get my answers. Sometime, I'm going to snap and start asking him."

He nodded, gripping her shoulder briefly. "Try for me. Trust me, once we have him arrested, you can ask all the questions your heart desires. We'll be bringing in Brown too, once she is released from St. Mungo's. Now, you do need to rest Hermione; you've worn yourself thin. I'll help you pick up these, but then it would be good if you got to bed. Tomorrow is going to be rough."

Silently agreeing she slid out of his arms and off the couch, kneeling on the floor to pick up the crumbled papers, the pieces she had tossed aside when the anger first hit. She was angry at Lavender for saying nothing, doing nothing, but mostly, she was angry at the situation, and the loss it caused her. As she read the notes though, that anger smoldered away into pain, and then tears. It hurt to read those things, know that Nott could speak so sinisterly to someone, anyone, and possibly be the murderer behind this whole problem. When the letters were sorted and back on the table, she remained there on the floor, staring down at the ground. She really didn't want to get up and face life, but he wasn't going to let her stay down. Extending a hand, he held it in her line of vision until she reluctantly took it, allowing him to pull her up.

"Get some sleep Hermione," he whispered, looking into her eyes. She held his gaze, unwilling to look away; he had the same look in his eyes from earlier, when they kissed. She wondered if he would kiss her again, and maybe this time he wouldn't run away. After all, he never even asked her what she thought of it.

Instead of leaning down for a kiss though, he moved to turn away. She kept a tight grip on him however, silently pleading for him to stay. He looked back at her, curiosity in his eyes.

"Don't go," she whispered, gripping tighter at the material in her hands. "Please, don't go. Don't' leave me here alone."

He was a bit uncertain about what her request implied, but nonetheless he nodded his head, agreeing. Dropping his guards, he waited patiently to see what it was that the witch wanted.

Hermione hesitated only a moment before pulling him deeper in her bedroom, closer to the bed. He followed behind numbly, uncertain what she expected. He knew what he wanted it to mean, but didn't want to jump on that hope to only be letdown. She kept ahold of his sleeves, backing up until her legs hit the bed and she sat down, staring up at him. In the dim light he could see that her eyes were glossy again.

"Stay with me."

"Hermione," he began, studying the witches face, but she cut him off before another word could escape his lips.

"Don't leave," she pleaded, and her voice sounded so small and broken. "Don't leave me alone Draco, please. Stay with me tonight." She glanced away, her confidence in her request wavering as she looked at the bedspread. "Stay here with me, in my bed. Sleep here with me."

The blonde was silent for a moment, and then sat down beside her when the woman refused to look back at him, gently pulling her chin up so she would look at him. Without saying a word, he kissed her again, and this time she accepted his advance all too quickly.

It felt nice to be connected to someone just then, and her hands moved up to the collar of his shirt, gripping it. It felt good to be really kissed by this man, instead of hesitantly pecked like before. He was afraid of moving too quickly, and Hermione was tired of watching his fear. He didn't need to be fearful, not of kisses.

His kisses reminded her of a time when Ron's kisses used to make her feel something, only his were better. The bubbly emotions building up in her chest as they kissed seemingly filled the dark void inside of her for a moment, and she relished in the feeling. Hermione couldn't explain it, even as they pulled back for breath, resting their foreheads together, but something about this man seemed to make her feel complete. In that moment, he even felt like a better connection for her than Ron, but she couldn't out rightly admit it, not with her bounce house emotions.

Their eyes met, and she spoke again. "Stay with me."

He didn't need an ounce of persuasion, and magically spelled her covers to the end of the bed, standing up like a gentleman to allow her to find a comfortable position first. Her nightmare was different tonight, consisting of a pair of long pajama pants and a crew neck shirt. And he'd never seen her more beautiful. He removed his shoes, collared shirt and wand before slipping in beside her, deciding that his trousers and tank top would have to suffer.

But none of that mattered, not really. As soon as she cuddled up next to him, finding comfort in his warmth as she laid her head down on his chest, Draco knew he was home. There was something about her that was positively intoxicating.

* * *

The following morning wasn't nearly as pleasant as the last few minutes of the night before. They awoke in perfect bliss, having slept better than they had in a long time. But it was all short lived, for today they needed to go and get Nott arrested, and the earlier they could the better. That would leave the day open for interrogation, and just maybe they would be able to figure out what really happened to make Nott break like he had.

"It'll be okay," Draco assured as they arrived in his office at the Ministry, gripping her hand. "We'll get our answers soon."

Hermione nodded, silently agreeing. She wasn't quite sure she could muster the strength to say something just then, not with all the thoughts swirling in her head. She had a bad feeling about today, and felt that her nerves might settle down once they got Nott arrested. Hopefully, that would happen soon.

Draco refused to do this without the assistance of the Aurors, and she suspected that he was more concerned about her than himself, which was silly. He should be concerned more about himself! She had vengeance on her side, and she was confident that the emotions inside her would drive her when they went up to Nott's office, and it would be the adrenaline rush that hopefully kept her going. Well, she hoped anyway.

They planned to meet the Aurors upstairs, but once they arrived it became obvious that the Auror department was late, and impatiently Hermione tapped her foot outside the door.

"Where are they? He's going to start thinking that something's fishy if we just sit here hanging out in the hallway. I'm sure he'll notice at some point."

"Yes, their timing is a bit off," he muttered, watching the woman as she paced. She did look stunning that day, in slim-fit trousers with a cute peasant top. It was the best she had looked in a while, which he liked to cockily assume had to do with him- which it did, of course. Him, and his lips, which bid Hermione good morning earlier on when he awoke her with a storm of kisses. It was better to take things slow with that one, after all.

"Let's just go in," she volunteered, crossing her arms. "They'll arrive soon enough."

Draco was going to protest when the door opened, revealing Nott on the other side. They both tensed, having been hoping that the door would remain closed, and that they were _not_ that loud.

"Something I can do you two for?" he asked, eyes dancing between the two of them. "Or do you usually hang around chatting instead of getting anything done?"

Briefly Hermione locked eyes with Draco, daring him to drag them away now, now that the door was open and they could easily slip in and get the minor questions out of the way. "Actually," he began, "We wanted to talk to you. Suppose we can come in?"

Nott looked displeased by that, glancing between the two as though he would like nothing more than to slam the door on them. But to do so he would need to have an explanation, and they both knew he didn't.

"Very well, but make this quick. I have other things I need to be doing."

Nodding Draco followed the man in, with Hermione behind him shutting the door, leaving it just barely cracked in case something went astray. The Aurors- and anyone else- would know to come in and check things out.

"What is it you want?" he asked, leaning against the desk. Theo seemed tense now as well, stiffly locking his arms across his chest. His eyes flinted between the two, as though trying to figure out what was going on.

Hermione stood beside Draco, leaning towards the security of the blonde. It wasn't that she was scared, but that she wasn't sure what Nott was actually thinking. There was a short pause before anyone spoke.

"Can you tell me where you were the night Weasley died?" the blonde began, still using her husband's last name as a way of addressing him.

"What kind of question is that Malfoy? Is this an interrogation?" He looked between the two. "Out, now! This is ridiculous! Draco, I should fire-"

"If you have nothing to hide," Hermione piped up, "Then you would simply answer the question."

His eyes narrowed at her. "I was with Marcus Flint, okay? Happy now?"

Reaching into his robes, Draco pulled out a letter. "I already owled him to check out alibi's before coming up here Nott. He says he was with his wife Daphne at the time, in Romania."

Nott pushed off the desk, walking around it. "Fine, I wasn't with him, but if you're hinting towards what I think you are Draco, you're crossing into dangerous territory."

The blonde shifted closer to Hermione, covering one side of her boy. She looked at him through the corners of her eyes, hoping he didn't mean to defend her. She could handle herself. "I'm asking questions, _boss_, and questions about a case you assigned me to. I'm doing exactly what I was asked to. Now, since you can't answer that question, let's try another. Where were you the night Cho Chang died?"

Running a finger over his lips, he turned away, wandering slowly behind his desk. "Should I even bother answering you Draco, if you have already checked my alibi's?"

"You always could," he agreed. "You could tell me the truth."

He scoffed, remaining behind his desk, and Hermione reached for her wand, watching the man carefully. "I can't tell you that Draco. I would be giving away everything."

Draco said something in response, but the woman beside him missed it, her eyes zooming in on the floo system across from his desk. It looked like the man was fidgeting, and she suddenly realized that he was going to make a run for it half a second too late.

The item was in the air before she knew what was happening. She ducked, watching Nott as he rushed towards the floo, and tried to hit him with a stunning spell, but a loud hiss from Draco threw off her concentration. Nott got to the floo, spilling a pile of floo powder as he disappeared.

Whirling around, she focused on the blonde she had ducked around. He was fingering his shoulder, pulling at the small blade that had been thrown his direction. Eyes widening, she ran up to his side and gently took his arm.

"We have to get you to St. Mungo's," she said, already knowing that it would need a quick spell and disinfecting touch up by the looks of the awful blade.

"Ah, yes, we have time for that, considering that our felon just escaped!"

"We'll find him again," she promised, picking up on the irritation in his eyes. She hoped that the disappointment didn't shine through hers. They weren't prepared for an actual attack, planning on having the Aurors arrive at any moment, and the desire to get some sort of answers over road the need to protect themselves. It was a stupid mistake.

The door opened, and Hermione watched two Aurors burst in, surveying the scene quickly before dropping their stance, eyeing the pair in the center of the room. From their positions, they could see the blood beginning to soak at Draco's shirt, and the small knife stick out of his shoulder.

Draco turned to looked at them, sneering at the pair. "Are you ever on time for _anything_?"

* * *

**A/n:** Some romance in the beginning. And next chapter we're going on a Theo hunt ;) Hope you enjoyed! I'm predicting about19 or 20 chapters overall. The end is soon! If you have anything to say, please leave a comment :)

**Important: **I am joining a site for a Fandom that does donations for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Basically, writers are posting different things for the HP/Twilight/Hunger Games fandoms, and readers can donate to read these new stories 3 months in advance. All donations are giving to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help find cures for blood cancers, among all other cancers. Please, visit my profile and take the poll asking what I should write. I'm posting a link there for people to follow, to take you to the page and you can view specific details. There are many fantastic writers participating, each submitting their own work. A small donation allows you to read all the stories on the site, and your money is going towards a wonderful cause. Please vote for what I should write, and then consider donating to the cause.


	18. And His Brother Said

**A/n: **Hope you enjoy! One more chapter to go! Thanks to **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

* * *

_And the preacher said_

_He was a good man_

**And His Brother Said**

Draco took a detour over to St. Mungo's that day before he was allowed to go home, forced into bed rest to make sure his shoulder healed for the remainder of the day. People could get so agitated over a shoulder sometimes. He left Hermione back in Theo's office so she could do some snooping, fully allowed to pick apart whatever she pleased. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to find. She did however pull out a few photographs from one of his desk drawers, of Lavender.

At first, they were cute pictures that a couple might take, but quickly they morphed into images taken from the distance of the young woman, then of Lavender and Ron, and Cho and Lavender. It was borderline stalker, and she felt uncomfortable even looking at them. Shoving the photographs into her bag, she left the office, having uncovered nothing else. Nott seemed to keep his murder weapons either concealed, or he abandoned them entirely. She wasn't sure which, but they weren't there, and she had no reason left to be. Wandering down the hallway, she contemplated the Aurors actions earlier.

First off, Draco chewed them out and then complained about the pain in his arm, before questioning why they weren't putting out an issue for a wanted man. One Auror bolted off, obviously a trainee, and the other told him that he had to go to St. Mungo's. Of course, that only infuriated him further, and it took several minutes to get the blonde to leave at all, despite his bleeding arm. Hermione promised to meet him back at the Manor, then turned back towards the point of going up there.

Now she wondered if anything had been put up about Nott yet. She hoped nothing would slip about the reasoning behind his desired arrest, considering that there was a possibility Lavender was in on the whole thing. If the woman was already released from St. Mungo's, she might try to make a run for it once headlines broke out about the arrest of Theodore Nott. Before leaving she sent an emergency owl out to St. Mungo's, demanding that they either keep her or send her to the Aurors to be put into custody. She didn't want to have Brown slip out of the picture. That would make things even more difficult.

She just hoped that things would work out. Sending the owl off, she stopped in her tracks. Maybe it would be a good idea to check the local owlery before returning to the Manor, to see if they could tell her who used the owl on the day that she received the threatening note from who she presumed to be Theo. It might be something else to peg him on. Hoping that she wouldn't be questioned too much and that she would be able to persuade someone at the owlery to reveal information, she headed there first, deciding to deal with that before returning to the infuriated blonde man back at the Manor. He was going to be grouchy now that he had been knifed in the shoulder by a thrown blade.

* * *

They slept together in Hermione's bed again, the woman finding comfort once more against his chest. They didn't figure out anything more that day once she got home, and they basically wasted an entire day of work figuring out very little. But tomorrow they had a plan, and it was the type of plan that made her shudder.

Draco wanted to investigate her basement, the place she found Ron dead. It was literally the only space they hadn't looked through, minus Theo's home, but that place was pretty heavily watched currently since Nott was now proclaimed missing, and he thought it would be a bad idea to wander around through there with so many people around; things might already be out of place and tampered with as it was. And since their main suspect was currently missing, and Lavender was on a standstill until she decided to give up something, he thought this was the best course of action. Hermione however, didn't want to do it.

She didn't want to go back to a place filled with death. She didn't want to look at the stained floor again, the spot she found Ron twisted and broken. She didn't want to go back to the insecurity of knowing someone could get past her wards, the pain that her husband was gone, and the horror of that scene replaying in her mind again. He offered to go alone, but as with every other time she out rightly refused. It was her home, and her pain, and she felt strange letting Draco explore the space alone. It was a personal matter, and sending him off to handle it alone seemed wrong. She felt that she should be there, and she would be by his side.

Hermione just didn't want the memories coming back, and kept adjusting in the bed. He reached over at some point and placed a hand on her arm.

"Stop worrying love, it's going to be fine. You just need to calm down and stop thinking about it."

"I can't," she muttered, remaining away from him. "I can't just _not_ think about it. The pain is too real."

"It's going to get worse the longer you think about it," he groaned, rolling on his side to hug her with a grunt, and Hermione quickly pushed him back over.

"Don't do that! The Healer's note specifically states that you need to keep pressure off of that until morning. You're going to make it worse."

He yawned. "You're freaking out about tomorrow Hermione, I thought I'd at least try to be nice and comfort you."

To that she smiled softly, grateful she had him. "I know," she sighed, climbing over him to lay on his other side, so she could rest her head properly against him. "I just don't want you hurting yourself anymore."

"Hey, this was _not_ my fault. Theo threw the blade."

"I know, but you won't get any better if you keep rolling over on it." She pecked his cheek, and he smirked. Four days ago she wouldn't have been willing to do even that, much less share the same bed with him. "We should sleep though, before we go… searching."

He rubbed her back. "I know. Sleep well Hermione."

"Yeah," she muttered, sounding uncertain as she cuddled against him. Maybe in the morning, she'd feel better about this entire ordeal.

* * *

"Something doesn't feel right," she muttered. He was following her through her home towards the basement entranceway, but she kept looking around, peering over her shoulders as though searching for something. "Something's wrong."

"You're just agitated," he replied soothingly, rubbing her back as they walked. He was in a better mood now that he wasn't _crippled_, as he liked to refer to the event from last night as. Hermione wasn't even going to try to argue with him.

"Yeah, I guess," she agreed, although she wasn't completely certain that was what was bothering her. She felt unsettled, but she didn't think that it was because she was back in her home- well, she didn't think that was the _whole_ reason. Something seemed amiss in the house, but she decided to just agree with him and disregard it as her nerves. And all her emotional unbalances were caused by nerves lately, right?

_Right…_

Opening the basement door, Hermione stood motionless for many moments at the top, gripping the doorframe. This was where she found Ron, twisted and broken that fateful day. An image of his lifeless body flashed before her eyes, and she took a step back into Draco.

"Remember, you don't have to do this," he cooed, wrapping an arm softly around her middle. She took several breaths before pulling away from his grip, steading herself as best she could.

"No, I need to do this," she whispered, bravely beginning the descent into the basement. He followed closely behind her, eyeing her the entire time. He was rather concerned in her mental stability, and it shone through his eyes as they reached the bottom of the steps. Glancing around, if one ignored the floor, the place was a rather cozy den, littered with a desk, sports magazines, books, and the like. It was a clash of two different personalities preserved in this space, everything left in the exact same place as the day Ron died. It was apparent, considering that rotted food still sat on the table. Draco refused to look that way, finding it revolting. She really did ignore this place as much as possible, didn't she?

It was picture perfect, clean except for the left out food. That was until you looked at the carpet and noticed the faint blood stains that even magic couldn't get out where they stood, at the bottom of the stairs. She moved away from the spot quickly enough, understandably uncomfortable. He followed her without complaint towards the side of the room, where she slumped in a chair, taking deep breaths.

"You don't need to do this," he reminded, looking around the space. "Go back upstairs Hermione, don't do this to yourself."

"I can't go back Draco," she whispered, gripping the sides of the chair. "I need to face my fears."

"Your fears are-" He stopped talking, pulling out his wand as he heard something creak upstairs. "Do you still have a cat?"

"No," she breathed, rising as well to pull out her wand. "Not anymore."

He pursed his lips, swinging his head around to look at the place. There was no floo down there, no easy out. Going upstairs might be dangerous as well, but before he could really contemplate anything a dull thud sounded on the top step of the basement stairs, and his heart froze. Well, shit.

Hermione grabbed him and pulled him behind the bar, an item he only had a brief second to contemplate. Really, she had a bar?

The door at the top of the stairs swung shut, and the pair exchanged a glance from their hiding place. Subconsciously she reached over and grasped his hand as they continued to hide. It brought little comfort as different scenarios raced through her head.

"Come out and play."

Her eyes widened immediately, and before Draco had time to react she released his hand, bolting into a standing position. He stood across the way on the bottom step, lounging against the walls, her eyes like saucers.

"I knew it was you," she breathed, and Draco stood beside her, placing his hands on the bar. "I knew you had something to do with this."

"Come again Granger?" He snickered, and Hermione's eyes flashed. Nott stood on her basement stairs, sneering at the two. She felt her heart stop, looking on at the man she now knew to be her husband's killer. Anger boiled beneath her skin, but so did cold fear. He had already killed two wizards, and there was no telling what might happen now. She tried to say something, but her voice caught in her throat as she started at him, the grin splitting his face in two. He looked giddy.

"I thought it would take longer to get the two of you here," he continued, stepping down onto the floor, over the blood-stained spot. "I mean, I know from Draco's early reports that you intended to come here, but I figured after your horrible realization you would stay away from a while." The man shrugged. "I suppose it's a good thing I camped out."

Hermione was around the bar in an instant, wand out and pointed at Nott, her hand shaking. "You killed my husband!"

He rolled his eyes. "Honey, you shouldn't be surprised. Did you ever really see Lavender as a cold-blooded killer? I mean if you didn't look into the details, she would've made a good little criminal." His tone was dark now, and Hermione sensed a bit of detest laced into his words. "Her little pregnancy announcement did come up at a strange time, don't you think?"

Draco was at her side, easing her arm back down to her side. Though he hoped she would stay on her toes, he didn't want an immediate battle. There were still things to handle. "You have a little bit of a vengeful side, don't you Nott?" he asked, playing off of what he was discussing. "Lavender was the key to everything."

"What are you talking about?"

The blonde held out a hang, circling it around the space. "You didn't particularly have anything against Weasley after the war," he began, shoving his wand into his back pocket, whispering a spell when he paused, "But you killed him nonetheless. You're actions speak louder than your words have, and everything is very clear now. The lack of alibi's speaks wonders, and it's apparent now that you killed Weasley and Chang, though my question to you would be why? Brown may have told us once upon a time that the two of you had something going, but she never went into details. And now we know you're the murderer, and she's sitting in a hospital bed." He arched an eyebrow. "Looks suspicious."

Theo had his wand out by now, but held it in a lazy grip. "I suppose you're expecting me to give a big list of what I've done now," he said, eyeing the pair. "You think I'm just going to admit to everything?"

"You've already partially done that," Draco reminded.

The man nodded, running a finger over his lip as he studied the pair, until his eyes finally landed on Hermione. "You're right Granger; I did kill your sweet little husband." Hermione tightened but Draco stepped forward, moving half in front of her as he grabbed her wrist, keeping her away from the felon. "My love stood by him, paraded around with him, while she ignored me. I wouldn't stand for it. Don't look at me like that! I gave him his warnings! I sent him the threats and letters and gave him a chance to get away from her! But he stayed for the ride, and it cost him his life."

Draco felt her break his hold, and barely managed to spin around and lock his arms around the brunette's waist as she tried to rush at Theo. "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you, you monster!"

He held up his hands, looking unfazed by the heartbroken woman. "He picked his poison darling. I told him to get out and leave her, I even played the good guy and reminded him that he had a family to consider, but he was stubborn. He said he couldn't leave her to the likes of me." He laughed, the sound breaking about halfway through. "He should've counted her as a loss and left her alone. She was all mine."

"He wouldn't leave someone in danger!" Hermione said, remembering the characteristics of her husband all too well. "He wouldn't leave her to stand alone if he knew someone was after her! Especially if he knew that she was pregnant!"

Nott's face darkened, and he turned away. "Ah yes, the pregnancy. What an unfortunate event that is. That's something you can't be too happy with."

"I might not be, but that doesn't give you the grounds to kill her," the woman argued, struggling out of Draco's grip. "The night that we found Lavender hurt, it was you who escaped through the floo, wasn't it? Even knowing that she was pregnant, you still tried to kill her?"

"The child is a monstrosity!" he cried, firing a hex. The pair ducked and it soared over their heads, attacking a picture behind the bar, breaking the glass. "Two already engaged people created it, and someday the truth will come out. Someday, it's going to find out that it was conceived out of wedlock. At least if she'd listened to me, this wouldn't have ever happened."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Your relationship didn't break off cleanly?"

His lip twitched. "No, it didn't."

"Care to elaborate?"

His eyes flipped between the pair as though trying to decide whether or not he should respond. Draco could see it, in the depths of his soul. Like all great killers, strategists, and murderers he wanted to gloat about his achievements, what he accomplished without being caught. But Nott was a man of the law, and he was still abiding by it. He was still thinking about what would happen if he was indeed caught, and if he revealed information now. Theo was trying to play safe, but his ego wanted to speak about all of his actions, talking about it as though it was important and amazing. Draco had seen it before in other criminals; they did both work in the same department, and Theo had not forgotten that.

But ego won out logic. "She was mine, all mine. She was meant for me. But she got scared, sad, and afraid. She backed away when we lost it, thinking that it was my fault, that it was _my _fault she lost him." His hands reached out blindly for something, creating a cradle there to hold an invisible force.

Hermione's eyes widened, recalling something from before. "The pictures," she whispered, and two sets of eyes looked her way. She pointed at him. "We found a room, a hidden place in the muggle neighborhood Chang was killed in. There was a hidden room that was overlooked in the same house. Inside there was someone's entire livelihood; pictures of a growing baby, furniture, clothing-"

"Shut _up_," he growled, glaring at her. "You don't know what you're digging into."

But Hermione wasn't listening, too busy shaking her finger. "The pictures, they were of Lavender I bet, right? A picture of someone _she _lost. Oh my god, she was pregnant before the incident with Ron!" Her hands moved up, covering her mouth.

He sneered. "Why yes, she was, good going Granger. She was pregnant, blissfully pregnant, and we were going to start a life together! There, is that what you wanted to hear?"

"That's why everything was in that room," she whispered, "you were going to live there. But why are you still so angry? You agree that the relationship didn't break off cleanly… and considering that neither of you carry around a little kid, I'm going to assume that he died somewhere along the way."

Theo shook a finger at her, nodding as his eyes widened. He was starting to look a bit deranged. "Yes, yes you're right. But it's all her fault! She let him die! She's responsible! She let our kid die! And then she ran out on me! She ran out and went to find Cho, and she didn't let me see my fiancé. Oh, no, she didn't let me see. Never! She told me that Lavender didn't want to see me ever again, but no, I know that's a lie." He pointed to himself. "She always wanted to see me!"

The two partners exchanged a glance. "That's how she got away," Draco concluded, remaining as emotionally detached from the situation as possible. "Her friend helped her out."

"Yes," he growled.

"I'm supposing she found your husband next," the blonde continued, reaching down to give her hand a comforting squeeze even as he spoke. "They got together, and obviously enough trouble ensued. Both of those people are dead now. And it's your fault."

"They shoud've stayed away from her!" he screamed, eyes widening. "If they didn't go near her they wouldn't have been bothered! They interfered! They protected her! And they paid the price!"

"You killed my husband because he loved her," Hermione whispered quietly, her voice fracturing. "That's why you did it?"

"No," he growled, looking between the pair. "I killed him because she wanted him! She wanted him, not me! I had to remind her that it was supposed to be us, but she wouldn't have it! And then she wanted to have the bastards child! You know she came to me one day, she told me she was moving on and that she didn't need me anymore because she found someone new. She didn't ever want me again. She wanted to get rid of me. But it didn't work for her, huh? She told me she was pregnant, and my notes to the Weasel turned to actions!" He pointed at Hermione, a sinister expression spreading across his cheeks. "And I killed him! I killed him here! I broke through the wards and I ripped out his soul, like I did today, like I plan to now. The two of you are too meddlesome."

"_You_ partnered us up!" Draco said, shaking his head. "If you don't want results you shouldn't have called her onto the case to begin with."

Theo waved a hand. "She would do her own research at some time anyway. I figured if I put two former enemies together , made the deal buyable, that very little progress would be done because you two hate each other, and I could finish what I started." He laughed harshly. "Boy, that blew up in my face."

"Yes, it did," Hermione agreed, shaking her head. "My husband was murdered! Nothing was ever going to sway me to give up! I loved him and someone took him away from my family! Petty disputes would not have stopped me from reaching my goal, ever. Your perception of things is diluted in that sense Nott, for you made a poor decision, and now you've fucked yourself over."

"She was going to be mine," he muttered, still watching the pair. "And I'm not going to stop here. This story will be groundbreaking in the papers you know, how the great Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy were taken down by someone as miniscule as I. People will eat the story up, as they have been doing all along."

"You're crazy," Hermione said again, stepping away from behind Draco. "You killed two people to get with someone who doesn't even love you. Someone who left you, someone who had another's child. You took away people's lives just to try and stack your own back together. But in reality you've fucked it over. Britain isn't that forgiving of murderers."

"They forgave him," the man reminded, pointing at Draco. "And he killed a legacy. I killed a Weasel."

"I didn't kill Dumbledore!"

"My husband is _not_ a Weasel!" If he'd been preparing for an attack, he didn't predict that it would be then, and wasn't ready for the two shots that were aimed at him at the same time. Two different spells hit him straight in the chest, propelling the man up off his feet and backwards into a large picture, breaking the glass as he smashed into it and fell into the floor, groaning even as the flecks of blood began to appear.

They exchanged a half-second glance before rushing over, kneeling beside him. Hermione took his wand and pocketed it for later. Draco moved and checked to make sure they hadn't just killed him.

"He's hurt but he's not going to die," the blonde muttered. "The glass wasn't thick enough."

Hermione nodded, falling back on her bottom. She placed a hand on her head, surveying the man before them. He admitted to most everything, caught up in a flurry of emotion. Now if only they had recorded the fucking thing.

"We're going to have to get him to admit all of that again," she whispered, looking down at the floor.

"No we don't," he replied, giving her an odd look as he stood. She looked up at him as he pulled out his wand, tinged purple. "You think I let us question him without even recording it? Come on Granger, I'm better at my job than that!"

She cocked an eyebrow as he used her last name. "Yes, I'm sure you are." He extended a hand her way, and she took it gratefully as he yanked her to her feet, cradling her body against his. "Now what? We contact the Ministry before he gets up again?"

"Eh, I wouldn't be too concerned," he said, walking to the stairs. She protested, but he just shook his head and dragged her upstairs. At the top her eyes widened.

"How long have they been sitting here!?"

"I made an emergency alert," he said, as she detached herself to go and see a familiar face, wandering through the crowd. "They waited up here since we were interrogating, which is proper protocol. If it got silent, if screams ensued, or spels started getting fired off a lot they would've come down to interfere. But if they did so while we were questioning we might not have gotten all that information." He inclined his head to two of the three Auror's that were sitting in the room. "You can go get him now, though he's a bit bloody."

But Hermione wasn't listening anymore, not as she threw her arms around Harry, her head hiding against his chest. She muttered a bunch of things he couldn't understand, and kindly he nodded his agreement, making a show of understanding as she cried. Finally, her deceased husband's killer was going where he belonged- behind bars.

And from his position across the room, Harry nodded his approval to Draco. The blonde took the nod, giving the same response to Boy-Wonder. Apparently, he'd done something right. But there was one last bit of work still to do, even though they had a killer in their procession now, one who's ego and emotions liked to give away his plans.

There were still a few missing links about Lavender. And those would have to be discovered and questioned before Draco could consider this case closed in his department.

* * *

**A/n: **Yup, that's the chapter! Shoot me a review guys, there's just one more to go! And don't forget to go to my profile to check out my facebook page as well as to find the link to the _Leukemia _site so you can make a donation! Please do, it's a great cause!

I'm planning to get the final chapter up before the 31st if all goes well. So review and red quickly my dearies!


	19. He's Not

**A/n**: I love this chapter, hope you do too! Here goes the final one. Thanks to my new beta **MorbidKitten2**! **Not yet edited.

_He was a good friend/_

_But the women in the two black veils didn't bother to cry/_

**Bye/ Bye/ Bye/ Bye**

_Yeah they took turns laying a rose down/_

_Threw a handful of dirt into the deep ground/_

He's not the Only One/ _Who had a secret to hide/_

_Bye/ Bye/ Bye/ Yeah/ Yeah/ Yeah/ Yeah_

Understandably, Hermione did not let the children know the full extent of the trial. Mail flooded the Manor the next few weeks after Theo was arrested, people wishing Hermione well now that the man behind everything was behind bars. Draco got praise for his wonderful work, which he credited half of it to the brunette. The children, though naturally curious, were shut out from most of the case. They were simply too young to understand what murder was, and too naïve to understand why everyone was so happy now that Nott was accused of murdering two people.

Draco did the questioning of Lavender alone, taking notes Hermione provided with him the day she was brought in from the hospital. With all odds against her, the woman crumbled under the pressure and fell apart, admitting to most everything.

She admitted to receiving letters about Theo's plan, about ignoring them and trying to block him out. She again mentioned the fact that Ron wanted to break things off for both their own goods, but she was stubborn and refused. If she had let Ron go and not clung to him like a lost puppy things would've been very different. Ron might still be alive if she had simply let him go and gotten them both out of danger. But things didn't end up happening that way.

Lavender told the blonde man that she went back to see Nott after their break up, telling him she was happy now that their relationship was over. She had a child on the way, something he hadn't been able to give her. When he got her pregnant the first time, something else that Lavender admitted to Draco, their child didn't make it past the first trimester. At the time they were moving in together, and she left him the day she found out. He never hit her, not really, but he did while she was pregnant, and Lavender still felt that he was the reason their child died. She never did go to figure out the cause of death though, and it remained a mystery.

She was involved, in a sense that she almost knew what was going to happen before it did. She had all the information at her fingertips, but she did nothing with it at first because she wanted to call Nott's bluff. And when Ron was killed, she went ballistic, angry at herself that she hadn't done something sooner. She was sad, hurt, angry, and trying to cope with the fact that now she was going to raise a child alone with a crazy man on her back the whole time.

Lavender wanted Ron more than anything in the world when it came down to it, so much so that it impaired her judgment. She didn't think about the long term effects of doing nothing about the threats she received, and Ron paid for it with his life. She wouldn't back down, wouldn't report a thing, and he was the one who paid for it. He suffered in the end, and it hurt Hermione's entire family. The Weasley's, well aside from Ginny, they still didn't speak to her. Though they weren't angry anymore, there was too much pain, and they couldn't look her way. Hermione understood and let it be for the time being. She didn't want to reopen old wounds for anyone.

It took longer for Draco to get her to admit to anything more, but the pair spent hours on end the first day in that interrogation room, with the blonde doing nothing but questioning the woman. In the end she admitted that she knew something was going to happen to Cho, but that she didn't warn her friend. The only thing she said was that she should watch her back. She didn't turn in evidence then either, and it cost the world another life.

She was outside that muggle house that day because she had received a letter about Chang dying that day. Instead of reporting the obvious threat like a normal person, she kept the letter hidden amongst the rest, going to that house to try and stop Nott herself. But the wards were up, and she couldn't get past. Panicking, she ran around several times and even tried leaving before returning to the spot hours later than her arrival time, only to find Draco and Hermione there on the scene, the woman losing her stomach in a bush nearby. She had missed her mark, and Cho paid for it with her life. She was a crappy friend.

Cho died because she was leverage, because Nott thought Lavender would come back to him to save her best friend. But instead she didn't, and let someone else fall. Nott didn't anticipate this, and didn't originally intend to kill her. But that didn't stop him from doing so. He told her where he would take Cho, telling her to alert him if she planned to come. She didn't alert him, and he set up wards to silence the screams. It was the home they would've lived in, and he killed her friend there. Hermione blamed the death on Lavender's cowardness, and Draco couldn't help but agree. If she only turned the threats in earlier, lives could've been saved.

He turned his documentations and notes over to a lawyer four days after the interrogations and event in the basement of Hermione's home, a trial already underway. Brown would be prosecuted for the part she played in people's death, pregnant or not. The court would decide how severe her punishment would be. She would be tried right alongside Theo, the man that took her love and her best friend away from her. It was cruel in a way, but no one argued against the set up. Who would, when justice for those people was finally going to be served?

After handing the files over to the lawyer, Draco quit his job in the Ministry. He refused to be part of such a twisted story ever again, and considering that his relationship with Hermione was only strengthening by the day, he had no intention of putting his family in danger- or hers. He planned to go back into investing money and staying out of the Ministry entirely. Things were too complicated there.

Hermione sold her house during that same month and moved into the Manor. Whether it was a permanent settlement or not neither of them knew, but it got her out of that house filled with bad memories. Hopefully it would give her some space to really heal. And even if the Weasley's didn't end up living there indefinitely, Draco was more than willing to help her get back on her feet until she could find a place to live. He was smitten with the witch and her children like that.

Maybe she could even be a Malfoy someday. He would hold out on that for a while though anyway. They were still adjusting to living there, and recently Draco convinced her to start sleeping in his room. They changed up things then, switching Hugo's room around to the other side of Draco's where there was a connected door, so she didn't have to be too far away from her son. He loved that she was so invested in her children.

She became invested in Scorpius too. The child didn't particularly take to her at first, enjoying her but not seeing her as a mother, until one day when he fell and broke his arm outside while playing with Rose. She wasn't home at the time, Draco was, and he took the child to the Healer to get fixed up. When he returned though, she had gone through his room and set something up for him.

"What's this?" he asked, looking around the room as his father carried him in and set the child down. Rose followed behind, ever eager to be near her newfound best friend. Hugo was carried by the girl, who seemed almost too small to carry the child. Hermione took her son gingerly, resting him on her hip as she turned back to address the young boy.

"I thought you needed some cheering up," she replied, looking skyward as the little boy jumped for joy. On her way over she spotted something that would make both of the children happy, and picked it up to add to her collection of things for Draco's son. She'd taken the time to go through his room and decorate it with happy wishes and green décor, but she knew immediately after picking the gift up that it would all be ignored. Oh well, he was smiling either way.

"Tickets to see Puddlemore United!?" he screeched, jumping on the bed. Draco gave his son a stern look and the boy quickly sat down, reminded why he'd been at St. Mungo's to begin with. "How did you get them?!"

She shrugged, ignoring the curious look from Draco. "Oh, I just saw them on my rush back over here," she said, waving her hand as though it we're nothing. "I thought you might enjoy them. Why don't you look at who they're playing against?"

The child peered down and his eyes widened. "No way! The Chuddley Cannons? My teams definitely going to win!"

Rose was on the bed in a moment, getting in his face. "No way! The Cannon will win!"

Hermione just rolled her eyes, peering back at Draco who winked. It reminded her of a conversation the children had when they first arrived.

_"Puddlemere United is better!" the blonde boy argued, holding up a figurine that Hermione couldn't name for the life of her. "Everyone knows that."_

_"No way! Chuddley Cannons are better!" the girl defended, holding up a different toy. Hermione had to smile at that; that was Ron's favorite team, and apparently he left a strong influence on his daughter._

_"Nu-uh!"_

_"Yes!"_

_"No!"_

_"Yes!"_

She set Hugo down on the floor, letting him play with one of Scorpius' fallen toys as Draco wrapped an arm around her. It was strange to think that they could stand in such a family-like situation and not be uncomfortable about it. She thought it would take longer for her to accept something like this after Ron, but it seemed to help her more than hurt. Draco was doing a good job at reminding her that even though her spouse was gone from the world, she didn't have to be all alone. And she loved him for it.

* * *

As the days passed on for the couple, it surprised Hermione how understanding Draco could be. She knew he was considerate of her position before, but even after the fact he was quite mindful that her husband died not long ago. On rare occasions, he visited the grave with her, when she couldn't muster the courage to go and see it herself. He was sweet like that.

Rose and Scorpius continued to get closer. She thought it was adorable to watch two children who were so very different bond over simpleton things, like their favorite foods and disputes over Quidditch teams. They were still both physicked for the game she bought tickets for. They'd have to leave Hugo at home that day since he was so small, but she knew that Draco would be willing to make the baby giggle before and after the event. Lying with him in bed one night, she interlaced their fingers.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked, voicing a question he hadn't been expecting. He pulled away from her and sat up, careful not to jar the baby boy sleeping between them.

"You mean as a couple?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. She smiled at him and nodded. "Well, I would imagine up."

"Up?"

"Yes up," he replied, grinning. "I think it's just going to keep getting better."

She fidgeted in bed, picking up her son to cradle against him. "I would hope so. It took a lot to get here."

He nodded, leaning over now that the child was in her arms to kiss her. "Speaking of which, Nott's trial finally ended today, after all these weeks. He's going to Azkaban for an unidentified amount of time, or at least to the public. I'm assuming they dug something else up on him and plan to bring it to court as well before a final amount of time is decided. Brown is receiving three to six months."

"But she's pregnant," Hermione said, frowning. "She can't have a baby in Azkaban."

He waved his hand. "She's going to have a two week break from prison whenever the due date comes around. Once she is considered well she will be returned to the prison and serve an additional amount of days for however many she was out for. They have to accept that she's going to have the child, but not that she deserves any different of a punishment that someone else would receive if they were not pregnant. She still has to serve all of her time, whether she wants to or not."

"I assumed so," she muttered. "I can't say I feel sorry for her though, she brought it onto herself. It's her child that I feel sorry for. It's going to have such a difficult time living past its mother's problems as it grows up."

"I'm dealing with the flaws my parents left behind," he reminded, "It's not impossible to do. Sometimes you just have to look at the world from a different perspective than they did. My father sought for power and a Pureblood world, whereas I've grown to see past the shallow shadows he dwelled in. I'm different, and you of all people should be able to see that. There's a reason I don't speak to my son about his grandparents. Someday he's going to ask, and I won't hesitate to tell him the kind of monsters they were, but that doesn't mean that I'll do it while he's young either. As you grow up, childhood impressions have to learn to disappear so you can decide whether or not you're going to be like your parents were."

"I suppose," Hermione agreed, getting out of bed to wander towards Hugo's room. "It just seems like someone who knew she was pregnant should've been more careful about what she was doing."

"You expected Brown to be careful? Hermione, I know you're sleep deprived today, but even you know that was never going to happen. She's always been self-centered. She didn't think too much about how this would affect her child."

"Obviously." She set her son carefully down in the crib, staring down at him with a smile. Rose might have the telltale red Weasley hair, but Hugo looked just like his father. Although it made her sad in the beginning, she smiled every time she looked down on him now. Ron might be gone, but he left behind two amazing children in his wake, two children who would grow up and make him proud. And maybe, Draco would be the one playing daddy.

He came up behind her and hugged her, his hands resting on her belly. She leaned back against him, comfortable where she was. It felt good to relax against his body, knowing she was perfectly safe in his arms.

"Do you see one of those in our future?" she muttered offhandedly, expecting the man to jump away. It was a rather fast question considering that they'd only been together a few short months.

"Perhaps, but not for at least a year." Startled she bolted up and twisted in his arms, peering up at him.

"Are you serious?" she asked, searching his grey orbs for some sign that he was lying. She couldn't find a hint of amusement in his face, and realized he wasn't joking. "You are serious."

"I wouldn't joke about something like that," he replied, tracing his fingers along the side of her face. "Why would I?"

"I always just assumed you weren't the kind of person to settle down too quickly with a woman."

He laughed outright. "You would think that wouldn't you, considering how I was throughout school." He shook his head. "My marriage to Astoria wasn't a decision I personally made. My parents arranged it before the war even ended and the Greengrass' saw it through. It was loveless, bland, and it ended as soon as my son turned two. Perhaps you're right; I don't seem like the type of person to settle down to quickly, not on my own accord. And I'm not saying that I want to marry you and have a child one year later, nothing like that."

"Then what exactly are you saying?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. He smirked and wrapped his arms tightly around her again, drawing her in close to his body.

"I'm saying it's not something I would exactly object to in the future," he muttered, kissing her. Hermione responded eagerly, biting his lip briefly before pulling back. "We don't have to rush into things," he continued, gazing into her eyes. "And I have no intention to. I might have wanted this relationship with you, wanted you to be mine, but that doesn't mean that we have to rush any further right now. Dating and getting to know each other better is always an option too."

She grinned, kissing him again. She was happy that he wasn't comparing her to Astoria, the woman she had met only once since school. And maybe she was a little overly happy about the fact that he'd burned the letter she found addressed from Astoria without even reading it, the one that she received one fateful day while he was off at St. Mungo's, getting healed after having a blade thrown at him courtesy of Nott. He planned to fight for full custody of his son soon, considering that the woman could care less about Scorpius. And Hermione couldn't be happier about the fact. She wouldn't mind being the child's only mother, and considering how awful she'd heard Astoria had been, she didn't think that his son would mind too much either.

"I like that idea," she said, pulling back. "Dating, getting to know each other, letting the children bond, it all sounds marvelous." One of her hands had slid down from his neck to the buttons on his shirt, and began slowly undoing them. "Gives us time to experiment with other things too before we jump to conclusions and seal the deal."

Draco cocked an eyebrow, already picking up on what she wanted. Without needing to be persuaded, he scooped her up in his arms, grateful that her innocent little boy was still sound asleep next to them. He kissed her, sauntering off towards their shared bedroom again- theirs, not just his anymore.

"Well yes," he replied, grinning devilishly as he dropped her on the bed, "There's that too."

_~FIN~_

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**Final A/n:** And there it is! This story is now completed. There will not be a sequel or epilogue. This is the end. And I quite enjoyed writing this little mystery. It's quite different from the mystery story I wrote previous to this- What Would You Give?

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. It was fun to write and a challenge for me since I wrote short-ish chapters and didn't have more than twenty chapters either :D If you've ever read any of my other stories, they tend to be either one-shots or 20+ chapters, so this was different for me. But I loved it!

Shoot a review this way one last time before leaving, aye? Let me know what you thought!

And don't forget darlings, there's still time to sign up for the Leukemia donation site on my profile page. Just follow the link and you'll find out how to donate and sign up, and you'll get to read some great stories while helping with a cause. Last year they raised quite a bit of money so help them again! Definitely think on it :)


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